FIFA Ranking: Super Eagles finish 42nd, down two steps
Super Eagles finished 2023 ranked 42nd in the latest FIFA ranking dished out Friday. The 4th Nations Cup chasing team had a not too impressive run in recent times dating back to the miss of the last World cup in Qatar. The team failed to survive the two legged playoff against Black Stars of Ghana and thus failed to be present in Qatar.
The Jose Peseiro tutored side began sailing through the qualification series for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) by finishing top of their qualification group.
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But the second half of the year ended a bit disappointing, especially when the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers started. The start of the qualification series became the lowest point of the Super Eagles in 2023, aside from drawing with Saudi Arabia in an international friendly and struggling to beat ten-man Mozambique in another friendly.
Super Eagles’ World Cup qualification series started with a 1-1 draw against lowly-rated Lesotho and then continued with another 1-1 draw against another lowly-rated team, Zimbabwe.The team finished this year with four wins, three draws, and one defeat. Even the current ranking in Africa is enough to suggest that the team needs to up the game with 6th position in the continent with Morocco occupying the first position and 13th in the world. Second on the continent are Nations Cup defending Champions Senegal who rank 20th in the world.
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Tunisia are ranked 28th in the world and third in Africa, while Algeria and Egypt, which came in at 30th and 33rd globally, respectively, rounded out the top five spots in Africa.
Argentina, England, Belgium, France, and Brazil round out the top five ranked countries in the world with Spain, Portugal, Holland, Croatia, Italy, and Spain rounding off the top 10.