Nigeria slips from 9th to 14th position in African Football Ranking

Not qualifying for the Nations Cup to defend your title is definitely going to cost something; Nigeria started the year on 43^rd position and ended it on the 66th position. What a year!!

Well, Germany and Belgium also switched places as Germany who had won the 2014 world cup was on top of the world rankings but by the end of the year, they had swapped places with Belgium who were on 4th at the start of the year.

Here's the January 2015 FIFA Rankings.

1 Germany 1725

2 Argentina 1538

3 Colombia 1450

4 Belgium 1417

5 Netherlands 1374

6 Brazil 1316

7 Portugal 1160

7 France 1160

9 Spain 1142

10 Uruguay 1135

11 Italy 1103

12 Switzerland 1091

13 England 1032

14 Chile 1016

15 Romania 1014

16 Costa Rica 995

17 Czech Republic 987

18 Algeria 948 - 1st in Africa

19 Croatia 946

20 Mexico 913

21 Slovakia 891

22 Tunisia 873 - 2nd in Africa

23 Austria 863

24 Greece 856

25 Ukraine 854

26 Ecuador 852

27 USA 836

28 Côte d'Ivoire 833 - 3rd in Africa

29 Bosnia and Herzegovina 817

30 Denmark 804

31 Russia 789

32 Israel 788

33 Iceland 761

34 Wales 748

35 Senegal 734 - 4th in Africa

36 Scotland 729

37 Ghana 714 - 5th in Africa

38 Serbia 713

39 Guinea 706 - 6th in Africa

40 Cape Verde Islands 693 - 7th in Africa

41 Poland 680

42 Cameroon 665 - 8th in Africa

43 Nigeria 654 - 9th in Africa

44 Sweden 646

45 Hungary 632

46 Slovenia 622

47 Northern Ireland 615

48 Turkey 604

49 Mali 603 - 10th in Africa

50 Zambia 594 - 11th in Africa

But, recently FIFA announced its latest rankings and the last rankings for the year, it had Nigeria dropping 7 spots from 59th in the previous month to 66th in the world and 14th in Africa.

AFCON Champions Cote d’Ivoire continued their domination while Algeria came second and Ghana’s Black Stars third.

First we entertain you with the top 20 teams in the African continent based on the FIFA ranking

19th Côte d’Ivoire - Number 1 team in Africa

28th Algeria - 2nd

33rd Ghana - 3rd

39th Cape Verde Islands - 4th

40th Tunisia - 5th

44th Senegal - 6th

48th Congo - 7th

50th Guinea - 8th

57th Egypt - 9th

59th Cameroon - 10th

60th Congo DR - 11th

62nd Mali - 12th

63th Uganda - 13th

66th Nigeria - 14th

69th Equatorial Guinea - 15th

72nd South Africa - 16th

73rd Zambia - 17th

75th Morocco - 18th

76th Gabon - 19th

78th Benin - 20th

Now, here's the 1-100 position/ranking for the year 2015 with their respective points.  

1 Belgium 1494

2 Argentina 1455

3 Spain 1370

4 Germany

5 Chile 1273

6 Brazil 1251

7 Portugal 1219

8 Colombia 1211

9 England 1106

10 Austria 1091

11 Uruguay 1074

12 Switzerland 1050

13 Ecuador 1040

14 Netherlands 994

15 Italy 991

16 Romania 980

17 Wales 974

18 Croatia 958

19 Côte d'Ivoire 950

20 Hungary 945

21 Turkey 933

22 Bosnia and Herzegovina 898

22 Mexico 898

24 Russia 895

25 France 868

26 Slovakia 860

26 Czech Republic 860

28 Algeria 845

29 Ukraine 842

30 Northern Ireland 825

31 Republic of Ireland 810

32 USA 784

33 Ghana 778

34 Poland 776

35 Sweden 771

36 Iceland 761

37 Costa Rica 759

38 Albania 746

39 Cape Verde Islands 745

40 Tunisia 711

41 Greece 706

42 Denmark 685

43 Finland 663

44 Senegal 661

45 Iran 653

46 Paraguay 647

47 Peru 644  

48 Congo 638

49 Trinidad and Tobago 628

50 Guinea 621

51 Korea Republic 617

52 Scotland 609

53 Japan 607

54 Norway 591

54 Jamaica 591

56 Serbia 590

57 Australia 585

57 Egypt 585  

59 Cameroon 583

60 Congo DR 580  

61 Slovenia 565

62 Mali 552

63 Uganda 550

64 Panama 544

65 United Arab Emirates 543

66 Nigeria 541

67 Belarus 514

68 Bolivia 500

69 Israel 498

69 Equatorial Guinea 498

71 Bulgaria 494

72 South Africa 487

73 Zambia 481

74 Uzbekistan 470

75 Morocco 469

76 Gabon 468

77 Haiti 467

78 Benin 461

79 Cyprus 441

80 Saudi Arabia 432

81 Libya 427

82 Antigua and Barbuda 409

83 Venezuela 408

84 China PR 405

85 Montenegro 403

86 Qatar 401

87 Jordan 399

88 Canada 388

89 Burkina Faso 381

89 Iraq 381

91 Cuba 377

92 Nicaragua 370

93 Estonia 369

94 Guatemala 368

95 Botswana 364

96 Togo 363

97 Faroe Islands 357

98 Kenya 345

99 El Salvador 344

100 Niger 339

Compiled by Adekunle Adewale