Nigeria’s senior national team has ended 2020 as the 35th best football playing country in the world.
Gernot Rohr’s Super Eagles remain unmoved in December’s ranking released by Fifa on Thursday morning.
The three-time garnered a total of 1474 points to stay as the fifth-best team in Africa behind Senegal, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco.
In a year inundated by the coronavirus pandemic which crippled football-related activities global, Nigeria played four games. Their first match of 2020 ended on a 1-0 defeat to Algeria in an international friendly. This was followed up with a 1-1 draw against Tunisia in another international warm-up game staged at the Jacques Lemans Arena, Austria.
Nigeria’s double-header Africa Cup of Nations qualifier versus Sierra Leone ended 4-4 and 0-0 respectively.
Senegal are ranked first in the continent and 20th in the world with 1558 points, while the Carthage Eagles are 26th in the world and second in Africa after amassing 1503 points.
Belgium claimed the team of the year for the third consecutive time having won six of their eight matches played in 2020.
Their three immediate chasers – France (2nd), Brazil (3rd) and England (4th) – retain their respective rankings. The only change in the top five compared to 2019 is the appearance of Portugal in fifth place.
The team with the most progress in 2020 were Hungary (40th), after a gain of 44 points and 12 places allowed them to end the year in the top 50. In eight matches played in 2020, the Magyars lost just once (to Russia), a sequence of results that enabled them to secure a berth at Uefa Euro 2020.
Other notable climbers include Ecuador (56th, + 41 points compared to December 2019), Malta (176th, + 32 points), Brazil (3rd, + 31 points), and Equatorial Guinea (134th, + 31 points). Burundi (138th), meanwhile, picked up 29 points and made the most significant move in terms of places, ascending 13 positions.
2022 Fifa World Cup hosts, Qatar boast of a striking 1391 points over the course of a year to finish fifth in Asian and 58th in the world.
The next Fifa/Coca-Cola World Ranking will be published on 18 February 2021.
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