New
African Champions, the Super Eagles of Nigeria, moved up a massive 22
places from 52nd to 30th spot in the latest rankings released Thursday
by the world football governing body, FIFA.
The
February 2013 rankings is the best ever for Nigeria in over 30 months
as the country has endured a tough curve in her football over the years.
The
victory in South Africa, Nigeria's third Africa Nations Cup win was,
however, not enough to shoot her straight to the summit of teams from
Africa as the Coach Stephen Keshi side only moved from 10th place to
fourth position in the ranking of Africa teams
The
Elephants of Cote d'Ivoire, despite exiting the Africa Cup of Nations
earlier than expected after failing 2-1 to Nigeria, remain Africa's
highest ranked team in 12th place having moved two steps in the February
edition.
Mali who were mauled 4-1 by Nigeria in the semi finals, and also the Black Stars of Ghana are ranked 2nd and 3rd in Africa.
Algeria, Tunisia, Zambia, Central Africa Republic, Burkina Faso and South Africa complete the roster of Africa's top ten teams.
Spain
leads an unchanged top three ahead of Germany and Argentina.
Fourth-place England climbed two places after beating 18th-ranked Brazil
in a friendly last week. Italy dropped to No.5. Mexico leads CONCACAF
nations at No. 15, and the United States dropped four to No. 32 after
losing a World Cup qualifier to 51st-ranked Honduras. Japan leads Asian
nations at No. 28, down seven places.
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