Eagles rise in January rankings

THREE-TIME African champions, Nigeria, have risen three places in the latest rankings released by world football-governing body, Fifa.

The Super Eagles amassed 2.5 ranking points to garner a total of 542.5 points for the month of January.

Nigeria is now ranked 12th in Africa and 63rd in the world.

The Super Eagles’ unconvincing display at the 2016 African Nations Championship (CHAN) was expected to detrimentally affect the country’s position in the rankings after Sunday Oliseh’s men crashed out at the group stages of the competition.

Criteria for arriving at a country’s placing/position on the monthly rankings is determined by the result(s) and number of matches played by a particular country in the month under review.
The importance of the match, strength of the opposition and confederation strength weights are some of the other factors Fifa consider in arriving at a country’s eventual placing/position on the rankings.
The top five countries, in descending order in the World rankings are Belgium, Argentina, Spain, Germany and Chile.