Duro Ikhazuagbe
Nigeria’s Super Eagles maintain their position as the third-highest-ranked team in Africa and 26th in the world in the latest FIFA ranking released barely hours to the kickoff of the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North America.
Despite the Super Eagles not making it to the Mundial, Coach Eric Chelle’s output in the last 18 months shows the team’s steady progress back to reckoning.
Nigeria is only third behind Morocco and Senegal on the continent, while traditional rivals like South Africa and Ghana at the World Cup continue to trail significantly.
Expectedly, Super Eagles impressive performance at the last AFCON in January and the defence of the Unity Cup in London in addition to holding Poland in an international friendly recently, all contributed to Nigeria maintaining status quo.
World Cup-bound Portugal ended Super Eagles’ 12-match unbeaten run after they defeated Nigeria 2-1 in their final warm-up game in Leiraearly this week.
Ranked as the fifth best team in the world and having Cristiano Ronaldo in their fold, the Seleção das Quinas took the lead after 23 minutes through Chelsea star Pedro Neto. But Eagles ranked 21 places below Portugal in the FIFA Rankings, drew level in the 39th minute through Jerome Akor. Fisayo Dele-Bashiru contributed the assist. Substitute Francisco Conceicao however got the winner for the hosts in the 75th minute. A win perhaps would have raised Nigeria’s rating in this latest classification released yesterday.
The three-time African champions climbed from 38th to 26th in the world rankings on January 19 after a strong tournament run. That AFCON performance lifted Nigeria to their highest FIFA ranking in five years, and they have managed to preserve that position through a series of encouraging results in 2026.
Morocco remain Africa’s highest-ranked team and sit seventh in the world, while Senegal occupy second place on the continent.
Behind Nigeria, Algeria are ranked fourth in Africa, followed by Egypt in fifth and Côte d’Ivoire in sixth.
Globally, reigning world champions, Argentina leapfrogged France to become the new Number 1 on FIFA Ranking. Les Bleus dropped to third while Spain are second. England stay 4th while Portugal( 5), Brazil (6), Morocco (7), The Netherlands (8), Belgium (9) and Germany (10) complete the Top 10 of global football.
