Super Eagles’ 2-1 away victory over Zambia in a 2018 World Cup qualifier has seen the West Africa country rise four places in the latest FIFA ranking released on Thursday by the World Football Governing Body.
Goals by Alex Iwobi and Kelechi Iheanacho gave Nigeria a 2-0 first half lead before Zambia pulled one back through Collins Mbesuma in the second half.
Nigeria has now moved up to 60th place in the world ranking from the 64th position in September.
According to News24, the 2013 African champions had moved three steps up from 67 to 64 between August and September. They currently occupy the 11th spot on the continent rising from the 14th spot of the previous month.
Ivory Coast maintained the summit of the ranking in Africa, but Senegal displaced Algeria to the second spot. Tunisia and Ghana held on their places to complete the top five on the continent.
Egypt, Congo DR, Congo, Mali and Cameroon made up the top ten in Africa.
Argentina held on to the top spot in the world and following another packed round of 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia qualifiers, there has been a reshuffle on the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking podium as Germany and Brazil have moved into second and third respectively.
A pair of wins for the current world champions, who saw off Czech Republic (40th, down 7) and Northern Ireland (36th, down 6) – just two of the 129 games played worldwide – means they have trimmed Argentina’s lead to just 156 points, FIFA said.
Belgium (4th, down 2) have fallen out of the top three for the first time since March 2015, with Colombia slipping to fifth (down 1), while defeated UEFA EURO 2016 finalists France (up 1) have leap-frogged European champions Portugal (8th, down 1) into seventh.
Spain return to the top ten, while fellow Europeans Poland (15th, up 2), Iceland (21st, up 6) and Kosovo (164th, up 4) have moved up to their highest-ever placings. The same feat has also been achieved by Guinea-Bissau (69th, up 4), St Kitts and Nevis (73rd, up 4), Curaçao (77th, up 45), Kyrgyzstan (99th, up 9), Comoros (143rd, up 9) and Papua New Guinea (159th, up 3).
