FIFA Ranking November Release: Nigeria Remain in Vantage Position Ahead of The World Cup Qualifier Play-Off

 

Following the conclusion of the second round of World Cup qualifiers, Nigeria remained unmovable in the newly released FIFA World Ranking this November 2021.

Equatorial Guinea and Togo are the African teams that gathered most points

Nigeria and Uganda are unmoved from their last spots while South Africa, Ghana and Tanzania dropped some places in Fifa’s World Rankings for November.

Africa's second stage of qualification for the 2022 World Cup ended on Tuesday with 10 countries advancing as group winners to the final play-off round, where they will battle one another for the five tickets to go to Qatar.

Following the teams' performances and results, Fifa released the monthly ratings with the top five African countries expected to face the lowest-ranked countries in the upcoming qualifiers.

According to Friday's release, Equatorial Guinea and Togo are the biggest movers in the world - the former rose by 12 positions to 114th while the Sparrow Hawks moved nine places to sit in the 125th spot.

Senegal remain the best footballing nation in Africa after ending their group outings with an unbeaten run of five wins and a draw in six games and they occupy the 20th spot in the world.

Morocco leapt past Tunisia to take the second spot after keeping back-to-back clean sheets which came with 3-0 wins over Sudan and Guinea in Group I. Meanwhile, the Carthage Eagles are third on the continent after they sealed the Group B ticket.

Reigning African champions Algeria occupy the fourth spot followed by Nigeria in the fifth place who recorded a win (Liberia 2-0) and a draw (Cape Verde 1-1) in their last two games.

The Super Eagles are still 36th in the world with a total of 1478.78 points (+0.60).

After sealing their dominance in Group F, Egypt are also unmoved in the sixth position while Cameroon moved past Ivory Coast and Ghana to take the seventh spot with a total of 1437.35 points (+19.14) after a 1-0 win over the Elephants sealed their qualification for the play-offs in Group D.

Ghana are next in the eighth position with a total point of 1428.97 (+4.10) after a nervy finish to Group G, where they pipped South Africa by virtue of scoring more goals because the teams were tied on 13 points after six games whilst having the same goal difference.

Mali moved up a place to the ninth spot with 1427 points (+15.59) after they won Group E without conceding a goal and they scored 11 in total.

Although they did not make the play-off round, Ivory Coast complete the top 10 best footballing countries in Africa while DR Congo, who led Group J, overtook South Africa to take the 12th spot with 1375.64 points (+18.03).

Bafana Bafana are 13th on the continent having gathered 1358.24 points (-3.37).

Uganda occupy the 16th spot after accumulating 1285.28 points while Kenya are 22nd with 1202.26 points and Tanzania are 37th with 1118.76 points.