By Habeeb Kuranga
The Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) released a new ranking for men’s football earlier today.
The list is coming just two days after the end of the FIFA world cup in Qatar. The governing body ranks Brazil as the top-ranking football nation in the world – a position they retained even though the Seleçao were eliminated in the quarterfinals of the world cup.
Current world champions, Argentina, took up the second position formerly occupied by Belgium in the list released in November. The runners-up in the just concluded tournament, France, climbed a place from the last ranking while Belgium, who was second on the spot in November, moved down to fourth after an embarrassing campaign during the world cup where they failed to go past the group stages. The Three Lions of England completed the top 5 teams in the rankings.
In Africa, Morocco rose high up in the ranking to claim the 11th position after they were 22nd on the list in the last ranking. This is not surprising, looking at their exploits from the world cup, where they reached the semifinal (the first African nation to do so). The Teranga Lions of Senegal dropped a place to the 19th position.
Tunisia also climbed a place from the previous 30th position to 29th in the latest ranking. The Indomitable Lions of Cameroon also rose high on the list to claim the 33rd position after they were tenth place below their latest rank in the last ranking released.
The Super Eagles of Nigeria dropped three places in the list and are 35th in the world. This is not surprising because, Jose Peseiro’s boys failed to qualify for the world cup and also lost their two friendlies against Costa Rica and Portugal.
Egypt completed the top 5 countries in Africa in the newly released FIFA ranking, as they are in the 40th position in the world.
