Nigeria maintained their position as the number four footballing nation in Africa and 46th in the world with the new men’s FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking released on Friday.
The ranking saw Senegal 1st in Africa and 24th in the world, Tunisia at 2nd and 28th, Morocco 3rd and 43rd, and Nigeria 4th and 46th respectively.
The four mentioned countries are the only African countries in the top 50 ranking in the world.
Nigeria lost two places from it previous position of 44th but maintained its position in Africa.
Meanwhile, after a long period testing and analysing the best way to calculate the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking, a new model took effect in August 2018 after approval by the FIFA Council.
This new version developed by FIFA was named “SUM” as it relies on adding/subtracting points won or lost for a game to/from the previous point totals rather than averaging game points over a given time period as in the previous version of the World Ranking.
The points which are added or subtracted are partially determined by the relative strength of the two opponents, including the logical expectation that teams higher in the ranking should fare better against teams lower in the ranking.
More details about the formula used in the algorithm, weightings of matches and other characteristics can be found HERE.
See the latest table below:
MEN’S RANKING
1 Belgium 1727 1727 0
2 France 1726 1726 0
3 Brazil 1676 1676 0
4 Croatia 1634 1634 0
5 England 1631 1631 0
6 Portugal 1614 1614 0
7 Uruguay 1609 1609 0
8 Switzerland 1599 1599 0
9 Spain 1591 1591 0
10 Denmark 1589 1589 0
11 Argentina 1582 1582 0
12 Colombia 1575 1575 0
13 Chile 1565 1565 0
14 Sweden 1560 1560 0
14 Netherlands 1560 1560 0
16 Germany 1558 1558 0
17 Mexico 1540 1540 0
18 Italy 1539 1539 0
19 Wales 1525 1525 0
20 Poland 1518 1518 0
20 Peru 1518 1518 0
22 Iran 1516 1481 7
23 Austria 1509 1509 -1
24 Senegal 1505 1505 -1
25 USA 1501 1497 0
25 Romania 1501 1501 -1
27 Japan 1495 1414 23
28 Tunisia 1493 1493 -2
29 Slovakia 1483 1483 -2
30 Ukraine 1482 1482 -2
31 Serbia 1481 1481 -2
32 Venezuela 1478 1478 -1
33 Paraguay 1476 1476 -1
34 Republic of Ireland 1474 1474 -1
35 Bosnia/Herzegovina 1472 1472 -1
36 Northern Ireland 1465 1465 -1
37 Costa Rica 1461 1464 -1
38 Korea Republic 1451 1405 15
38 Iceland 1451 1452 -1
40 Scotland 1446 1446 -2
41 Turkey 1443 1443 -2
42 Australia 1441 1436 -1
43 Morocco 1440 1440 -3
44 Czech Republic 1435 1435 -2
45 Greece 1428 1428 -2
46 Nigeria 1427 1427 -2
46 Montenegro 1427 1427 -2
48 Bulgaria 1425 1425 -2
48 Norway 1425 1425 -2
50 Russia 1424 1424 -2
