World football governing body, FIFA, has picked Nigeria as the 29th best team in the world and third in Africa.
According to the latest FIFA ranking made available to The Guardian, Belgium is still the world’s best team in 1773, followed by France (1744) and Brazil (1712).
England (1664), Portugal (1653), Uruguay (1645), Spain (1642), Croatia (1628), Argentina (1623) and Colombia (1622) make up the top 10, while Mexico (1621), Italy (1612), Netherlands (1603), Germany (1602), Switzerland (1600), Denmark (1593), Chile (1579), Sweden (1567), Poland (1558) and Africa’s number one, Senegal (1555) are among the top 20 teams.
Tunisia (1506), 26th in the world, are the second-best team in Africa, according to the ranking, while Nigeria (1493) is third in the continent.
African champions, Algeria (1482), are 35th in the world and fourth in the continent; Morocco (1456, 43), Ghana (1439, 46), Egypt (1420, 51), Cameroun (1413, 53), Mali (1389, joint 57) and Congo DR (1389 joint 57) make the continent’s top 10 teams.
After more than six months of disruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic, international matches have finally recommenced. With the exception of Uzbekistan’s 2-1 friendly victory over Tajikistan, the countries back in action have all been European. (Guardian)