The Super Eagles are currently the 45th ranked
team in the world as revealed in the April FIFA
ranking released on Thursday.
The team slid four places from being 41st to
45th following their lacklustre performance in
the period in review.
Nigeria lost 1-0 at home to Uganda and drew
1-1 with South Africa in Nelspruit, confirming
their declining prowess in the continent.
Nigeria were not the only team to suffer the
slide as Africa’s top four teams – Algeria, Ivory
Coast, Ghana and Tunisia – also dropped from
their former positions.
Algeria dropped down from 18th to 21st, Ivory
Coast also dropped down three places from
20the to 23rd, Ghana lost two places to 26th
and Tunisia went down five places to 30th.
Belgium moved up one place to third,
achieving their highest-ever position following
two wins in UEFA EURO 2016 qualifying, and
now trail only Germany and Argentina.
Brazil (5th, up 1) and the Netherlands (6th,
down 1) have traded places. The Brazilians
defeated France (11th, down 3) 3-1, while the
Netherlands had to settle for a draw against
Turkey (52nd, up 4) in their EURO qualifier.
Switzerland (9th, up 3) and Spain (10th, up 1)
have re-entered the top ten at the expense of
France and Italy (13th, down 3) respectively.
According to FIFA, a total of 135 Grade A
international games were taken into account
for the latest edition of the global ladder,
taking the total number of games evaluated so
far this year to 217.
Of the new matches, 25 were qualifiers for
EURO 2016, 26 were 2018 World Cup qualifiers
(CONCACAF, AFC) and 84 were friendlies.