Nigeria have moved eight places in the latest FIFA women’s rankings released by the Federation of International Football Association, Saturday PUNCH reports.
The Super Falcons, who were ranked 40th in the world in the ranking released in June, gained 94 points to amass a total point of 1649 to move to 32nd position in the world.
The Falcons’ rise in the rankings was largely due to their impressive performance at the just concluded Women’s World Cup played in Australia and New Zealand.
The Nigeria senior women’s national team won one and drew other three games played at the biggest women’s football showpiece before they were knocked out of the tournament by finalists, England, on penalty shootouts.
After securing a goalless draw in their first game against Olympic champions Canada, the Falcons followed it up with a stunning 3-2 win over co-hosts Australia, before finishing the job with the stalemate against the Republic of Ireland.
Randy Waldrum’s ladies finished with five points, one point behind The Matildas, who thumped Canada 4-0 in their last game. But the point was enough to see them book a place in the round of 16 of the competition for the third time in nine appearances before being eliminated by the Lionesses.
The 11-time African champions also ended the group stage unbeaten to become the only African country among the continent’s four representatives at the tournament.
Waldrum’s side maintained their first position in Africa.
South Africa also moved up in the ranking released on Friday to sit 45th in the world and second in Africa. Cameroon with 1445 points are 56th in the world and third on the continent while Morocco and Ghana, who are 58th and 59th in the world respectively, complete the top five in Africa.
Globally, world champion Spain are the number two ranked nation behind Sweden, who moved from third position to number one.
The United States of America are third while England are fourth with France occupying the fifth position.
The ranking released by FIFA on Friday is the first since the conclusion of the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
