Nigeria’s men’s national team, the Super Eagles, enjoyed a rise in the latest rankings released by the world football governing body, FIFA, on Thursday, Afrosport reports.
The three-time African champions moved up three spots from 39th to 36th in the world having enjoyed a favourable result in their only outing in October, a 1-0 win over Libya in matchday three in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
The Super Eagles are now in fourth place in Africa with a new points total of 1503.29, an increase of 5.27 points from the previous ranking released on September 19.
According to FIFA, October’s international window was a busy one as 32 matches were played in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, 47 for the 2025 AFCON qualifiers, 79 Nations League matches, and 17 friendlies were played within the period under review.
Meanwhile, Nigeria is not the only Africa team that witnessed a positive change in position in the rankings, as Comoros and Sudan took the biggest leaps in the world rankings, climbing up 10 places.
Comoros, formerly 118th in the world are now 108th, while Sudan, who previously occupied the 120th spot are now 110th following famous wins against African powerhouses Tunisia and Ghana, respectively, in their most recent outings in the 2025 AFCON Qualifiers.
Likewise, Africa’s top-three ranked countries – Morocco (13th), Senegal (20th) and Egypt (30th) all moved up one spot each, meanwhile Algeria (37th) climbed up four spots, one behind Nigeria, to complete the top five teams on the continent.
Ivory Coast (40th) dropped seven spots in the world rankings and are now sixth in Africa; Tunisia (47th) dropped 11 places to now occupy the seventh spot on the continent; Cameroon (49th) climbed up four places; Mali (54) remained unchanged; and DR Congo (57th) moved up a spot to complete Africa’s top 10 teams.
Other African teams to have made significant progress in the ranking include Equatorial Guinea (88th, up 6), and Zimbabwe (117th, up 7), The Gambia (128th, up 7) and Botswana (140th, up 7).
However, the top six teams all held on to their previous positions with Argentina (1st) still on top, but their lead over France (2nd) and Spain (3rd) has reduced. England (4th), Brazil (5th), and Belgium (6th) are the remainder of the top six.
Portugal (7th) and Italy (9th) both moved up one spot, while the Netherlands (8th) and Colombia (10th) both dropped one spot each to complete the top 10.
European heavyweights Germany (11th) are just knocking on the door as they climb two places up.
