The Super Eagles of Nigeria have secured their best year-end ranking in ten years after the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA) released its final rankings for 2019 on Thursday, Completesports.com reports.
Nigeria’s senior national team has ended the year 2019 as the 31st best football playing country in the world. The last time the Eagles finished a calendar year higher than 31 was a decade ago. And that was in December 2009 when the team was ranked 22nd by the world’s football governing body. That year, Nigeria finished as the third best country in Africa behind both Ivory Coast (16 in the world) and Cameroon (11).
After ending 2019 in the 31st position, the three-time African champions remain unmoved in the latest Fifa rankings after Nigeria maintained its placing from the month of November.
Gernot Rohr’s men garnered a total of 1493 points to stay as the third-best team in Africa behind the pair of fellow West African nation, Senegal and North Africans, Tunisia.
Also Read – Pinnick: Ogbemudia Stadium Will Pass FIFA Test to Host Eagles’ Matches
In the year under review, the Super Eagles picked up the bronze medal at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations staged in Egypt following their victory over Tunisia.
The team also achieved that feat despite having missed the two previous editions in 2015 and 2017 after they had won their third title in South Africa in 2013.
Nigeria’s rivals for a ticket to the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, Benin, Sierra Leone and Lesotho are 84th, 118th and 139th respectively in the world.
The next Fifa/Coca-Cola World Ranking will be published on Thursday, 20 February 2020.
By Oluyemi Ogunseyin
3 Comments
We thank God for crowning us with this honour, with the efforts of the NFF, Pinnick, Rohr, the SuperEagles’ fans (especially Rohr’s supporters) and CSN. Another reason why we’d shout ourselves hoarse that Rohr is the MAN. It’s most certain we’ll nosedive in the global ranking if we send Rohr packing.
If people cannot assemble facts, analyse them and make projections, then they’ll continue to run round in circles. Let’s not be fooled with the sweet write-ups of dreamers; we’ve got palpable facts to back out stand.
LET ROHR STAY!
Achi, thanks a lot. As much as I respect Hon. Segun Odegbami, taking a holistic view (to which you allude above) is what is always sorely missing when he offers his appraisal of Rohr’s tenure thus far as Super Eagles coach.
For us to be doing as well as we have, a lot of elements have to be present and in sufficiently positive quality and quantity to drive success in any national team.
The coach, the football administration, the players, unity of purpose, camaraderie, funding, motivation, quality backroom staff, facilities, infrastructure,lack of political influence, transparency, long term planning; all these things and more have to come together positively for the Super Eagles to achieve and maintain success at any given period.
Focusing too much on the coach whilst the NFF is tearing itself apart with endless legal wranglings with a domestic league that has become the laughing stock of the continent is a myopic approach to the issues at hand in my view.
Coach Gernot Rohr is by no means the finished article however the wider environment to which he has had to work (one which he has achieve moderate yet significant successes) is wholly inadequate (to put it mildly).
It is an environment set up for any coach to fail, yet Rohr has steadied the ship, navigating it towards success.
The state of our international football is now so bad that out of out of 5 men’s national teams (under 17, under 21, under 23, home based Super Eagles and Full Super Eagles) only one is living up to its potentials: Rohr’s Super Eagles.
And it is no coincidence: the German tactician has to be doing something right!
Sensible talk from @Achi. You know a greater percentage of nigerians irrespective of education, status have got the yahoo yahoo boys mentality. Very poor today ; wake up next money n become millionaires; driving office next other day to become poor again. Everything jagajaga..No foundation,no steady development towards a blessed end but stop gap stop gap full of deceit, lies, selfishness n all what sort. How laughable It is for one,who is expecting the SE to suddenly become the best despite so many negatives few years back, think he is better,mind set wise,than the yahoo yahoo boys. Lol…