- Safiu Kehinde
The Super Eagles of Nigeria have climbed three steps up, sitting 36th place in the recent October FIFA ranking.
As seen in the ranking table on the website of the world football governing body on Thursday, Nigeria garnered 1503.29 points within the period under review.
The movement reflected positively on the team’s continental position as they now ranked fourth behind Morocco, Senegal and Egypt.
Prior to the October ranking, Nigeria occupied sixth position in September.
On the global scene, 32 qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup 2026, 47 for the CAF Africa Cup of Nations 2025, 79 Nations League matches and 17 friendlies were played during the recent international window.
This made October a particularly busy month of football and one that has led to a number of changes in the FIFA/Coca-Cola Men’s World Ranking.
The top three teams are also bunching up, Argentina (1st) are still on top, but their lead over France (2nd) and Spain (3rd) has been cut. England (4th), Brazil (5th) and Belgium (6th) have all held onto their positions.
Portugal (7th, up 1) and Italy (9th, up 1) are the only climbers within the top 10, which is completed by the Netherlands (8th, down 1) and Colombia (10th, down 1), with Germany (11th, up 2) now knocking on the door.
Elsewhere, Algeria (37th, up 4), Peru (38th, up 5) and Greece (42nd, up 6) have all made moves worthy of note, and Cameroon (49th, up 4) have returned to the top 50.
Other African teams to have made significant progress in the ranking include Equatorial Guinea (88th, up 6), Zimbabwe (117th, up 7)
The Gambia (128th, up 7) and Botswana (140th, up 7), the last of whom, the Zebras, have posted the biggest jump overall in terms of points gained (up 38.30 points).