Sports

FIFA ranking: Eagles move to third in Africa

Published

6 years ago

April 5, 2019

The Super Eagles are now ranked third in Africa after moving up four places to 42 in the latest FIFA ranking released on Thursday .

The three – time African champions earned wins against Seychelles and Egypt in the last international window, which pushed them up the ranking .

Senegal ’ s national team , the Teranga Lions, are Africa ’ s top team while second -place Tunisia , Morocco ( fourth ) and the DR Congo ( fifth ) , complete the top five slots for Africa . Along with Ghana , they were the only African teams to make the top 50 .
The biggest mover in March was Tanzania ( 131st, up 6 ) – coached by Nigerian Emmanuel Amuneke – having booked their place at the Africa Cup of Nations after 39 years in the doldrums .

With 150 games played across the globe during the international period , things remained tight at the top of the ranking , as the top three remained unchanged .

This sees Belgium ( 1 st , unchanged ) maintain a slender lead – growing it marginally to three points – over 2018 World Cup winners France ( 2 nd , unchanged ) . Brazil ( 3 rd , unchanged ) , however , are looking over their shoulders somewhat as England ( 4 th , up 1 ) leapfrogged World Cup finalists Croatia ( 5 th , down 1 ) .

Uruguay ( 6 th , up 1 ) are the only other movers within the top 10 , whereas a dramatic win for Germany ( 13 th , up 3 ) saw them overtake defeated opponents The Netherlands ( 16 th , down 2 ) , as well as Sweden ( 14 th , unchanged ) and Chile ( 15 th , down 2 ) .

Israel ( 84 th , up 8 ) enjoyed the biggest jump of all, followed closely by Guatemala ( 143rd , up 6 ) and Tanzania .