Nigeria drop four places to 45th in April FIFA ranking

Nigeria’s senior national team have dropped four places to 45th in the latest Fifa world ranking released on Thursday – their poorest drop in exactly a year since April 2014 after failing to win in two international friendlies in March, Goal reports.The Super Eagles slipped one place to be ranked eighth African side behind Algeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Tunisia, Senegal, Cape Verde Island and Guinea.During the celebration of a century of caps for goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama, the former African champions lost 1-0 at against Uganda in Uyo on March 25 before holding South Africa to a 1-1 draw in Nelspruit four days later.The Super Eagles were adjudged the 41st best football playing team in

the world according to the ranking released earlier in March after rising from 42nd despite their absence at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations won by Cote d’Ivoire.Meanwhile, Algeria remain at the summit of African football despite dropping three places to 21st position in the world while second-placed Cote d’Ivoire slipped three places to 23rd and Ghana dropped two spots to 26th in the world but remained third in Africa. They are followed by Tunisia (30), Senegal (36), Cape Verde Island (37), Guinea (41), Nigeria (45), Cameroon (48) and Congo (49) to complete the African top ten.

Uganda, after their 1-0 win over Nigeria, moved up two places to 71st in the World while South Africa could not gain from their 1-1 friendly win against Nigeria as they crashed five places to 60th spot.Nigeria’s group opponents in the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying series also saw mixed fortunes as Egypt rose seven places to 51st while Tanzania and Chad both dropped seven and three places respectively to finish in 107th and 155th spots.Germany and Argentina hold the first and second positions on the Fifa /Coca-Cola World Ranking while Belgium moved up one place to displace Colombia in third and fourth place with Brazil and Uruguay both moving up one spot to fifth and eighth respectively.Switzerland climbed up three places into the top ten, occupying the ninth position, while Spain who crashed out of the top 10 last month moved up one place to nick the tenth spot at the expense of France and Italy who fell three places to 11th and 13th respectively.The next ranking will be released on May 7, 2015.