Super Eagles soar in Fifa rankings

The Super Eagles of Nigeria moved six spots in the latest Fifa rankings released by the world football governing body on Thursday.

The three-time African champions now occupy the 61st position in the world and 12th in the continent.

The Eagles’ upward surge could not be unconnected with the two successes achieved in the international friendly matches against the African opposition, Les Aigles of Mali, and the Europeans, the Red Lions of Luxembourg.

The Desert Foxes of Algeria remain the highest ranked team in Africa while Argentina is the number one in the world.

The Elephants of Ivory Coast, Ghana, Senegal, Egypt, Tunisia, Cape Verde, Congo DR, Guinea, Cameroon, Congo make up the top 10 teams on the continent.

Belgium, Colombia, Germany, Chile, Spain, Brazil, Portugal, Uruguay and Austria make up the world top 10 teams.

The top movers in the latest Fifa rankings on Thursday are Slovakia and Madagascar.

The Europeans climbed eight positions to take 24th place while the island nation located off Africa’s southeast coast climbed 29 positions into 108.

The regional composition of the top 50 this month is: Uefa (29), Conmebol (8), Caf (7), Concacaf (4), AFC (2), OFC (0).

The 45 international friendlies were included in calculating the latest rankings along with four 2018 Fifa World Cup qualification matches for the OFC region.

The next Fifa world rankings will be published on July 14, 2016.