Nigeria falls dip in Fifa ranking as Eagles slump to 67th spot

The downward slide of the Super Eagles on the monthly FIFA rankings continued on Thursday as the Nigeria national football team dropped five places to 67th spot on the latest rankings released by the world football governing body.

The Super Eagles, who are three-time African champions, are now sadly ranked 14th on the continent to further drive home the declining trend in football in the country.

As reflected in the April Rankings, Africa’s top 10 are Algeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Senegal, Egypt, Cape Verde, Tunisia, DR Congo, Guinea and Congo.

Cameroon, Morocco and Mali are also above Nigeria.

Already out of contention for a place in the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), the continuous slide by the Eagles is set to even put them even in a tough group as they go all out to make amends with qualification for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

CAF has already announced that the June World Cup qualifiers draws will be based on the rankings of the 20 teams in contention.

The 2018 World Cup qualifying tournament for Africa will begin in October with 20 teams drawn into five groups of four teams each with the overall winners advancing to the final tournament in Russia.

Since making her debut appearance at the USA 1994 FIFA World Cup, Nigeria has only missed out on one edition; featuring in the 1998, 2002, 2010 and 2014 editions.