Nigeria have dropped to 44th in the latest FIFA Men’s World Ranking released on Thursday, their lowest ranking since June 2019, when they occupied the 45th position globally.
The drop in the July 2025 edition comes despite Nigeria remaining unbeaten during the recent international window.
Eric Chelle’s side drew 1–1 against Russia in a friendly match on June 6 and featured in the Unity Cup, where they beat Ghana 2–1 in the semi-final before settling for a 2-2 draw with Jamaica in the final.
Those three games yielded a marginal points increase from 1481.35 to 1484.26, a gain of just 2.91 points. However, that was not enough to prevent the Super Eagles from dropping one place in the global standings.
This is the third time within the past nine months that Nigeria have occupied 44th position in the rankings, having held the same position in both November and December 2024. They had briefly risen to 43rd in April this year, before sliding back again in July’s release.
On the continental front, Nigeria’s latest position keeps them fifth among African nations.
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Morocco remain the highest-ranked African team in the world at 12th, followed by Senegal, the only country among the continent’s top 10 to move up, going from 17th to 18th. Egypt dropped to 34th, while Algeria was steady at 36th position after a mixed run of results.
Ivory Coast fell to 45th following a winless four-match stretch, allowing Nigeria to stay marginally ahead in the continental table.
Other African countries also experienced movements, with Tunisia remaining 49th, Cameroon dropping to 51st, and Mali slipping to 54th after a defeat.
South Africa remained 56th after a busy match window that included eight fixtures but ended in disappointing results, with just a win.
Globally, Argentina continue to lead the rankings, followed by Spain, France, England and Brazil.
Croatia returned to the top ten, while Mexico climbed four places to 13th following their Gold Cup triumph. Costa Rica were the biggest climbers in the latest edition, rising 14 places after reaching the quarter-finals of the same tournament.
FIFA confirmed that over 200 international fixtures were accounted for in compiling the July rankings, and the next men’s World Ranking will be published on September 18 2025.
(Editor: Paul Akhagbemhe)
