FIFA Ranking: Nigeria Retains 53rd Position, Argentina Leads

Nigeria has retained 53rd position in the latest FIFA global rankings released on Thursday. Super Eagles will tackle Tanzania on Saturday for 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier Algeria leads the continent at 19th position, followed by Cote d’Ivore at 21, Ghana at 27. Tunisia (33), Senegal (38), Congo (42), Cameroon (42), Egypt (49), Nigeria (53) and Cape Verde Islands (56) make up the top ten in Africa.
Chile (8th, up 2) are the only team to have made significant movement in the top ten, and they are now in their highest-ever position since the revision of the global ladder in 2006. England (10th, down 2), however, have fallen two places, whereas both Austria (13th, up 1) and Congo (42nd, up 1) are in their best positions since 1993.There is no change at the top of the September edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking, with Argentina continuing to lead the way ahead of Belgium (2nd, unchanged) and Germany (3rd, unchanged).
The following teams have also climbed at least five places: Georgia (147th, up 7), Panama (59th, up 6), Cuba (113th, up 6), the Dominican Republic (123rd, up 6), Armenia (83rd, up 5) and Nicaragua (139th, up 5). Three teams – Rwanda (78th, up 13), Guatemala (98th, up 10) and Fiji (181st, up 17) – have even made gains of at least ten places.
The composition of the top 50 for September 2015 also shows precious little change, with Egypt (49th, up 3) the only newcomer in this group at the expense of Republic of Ireland (51st, down 1) and Cape Verde Islands (56th, down 6), who have both dropped out of last month’s ‘top 51′. The regional composition of the top 50 now looks as follows: UEFA: 30 teams (down 1); CAF: 8; CONMEBOL: 8; CONCACAF: 3; AFC: 1; OFC: 0.
A total of 15 new international ‘A’ matches have been taken into account for this edition of the ranking, all of them friendly matches in the CONCACAF (1 match), Asia (10), Africa (2) or Oceania (2) zones.