In the most recent FIFA ranking, which was made public on Thursday, the Super Eagles of Nigeria fell five places to rank sixth in Africa and 40th in the world.
Nigeria has fallen below a team like Russia, which hasn’t played competitive football in a while, by more than 13 points, from 1494.32, where they were at the time of the last ranking, to 1480.8.
The Central African Republic rose the most, climbing 10 ranks, thanks to consecutive victories that have placed it in a strong position to qualify for its first-ever AFCON appearance.
With just one victory in their last five games, the Super Eagles have not had the best of runs.
Argentina rose to the top of the ranking globally for the first time in more than six years.
Following friendly victories over Panama and Curacao, La Albiceleste (1840.93 points) defeated Brazil (1834.21 points). After defeating the Netherlands and the Republic of Ireland in the first round of the UEFA EURO qualifiers, France (1838.45) also advanced past the Brazilians.
The top five positions are completed by Belgium with 1792.53 points and England with 1792.43 points.
