Nigeria slumps again in FIFA ranking, now on 37th spot

Nigeria has again dropped in the monthly official FIFA World ranking from the 36th spot to the 37th.

The ranking table on the World governing body’s website on Thursday showed that though Nigeria still had 710 points, like it had in the last ranking in November, but it dropped by one spot.
However, in the December ranking, Nigeria still remained the fourth in Africa behind Algeria, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire with 800, 849 and 918 points, respectively.
On the global scene, Spain maintained the first spot, ahead of Germany, Argentina and Colombia, who also maintained the second, third and fourth spots, respectively.
Though the ranking might be a disappointment to Nigerians with the successes recorded by Nigerian teams in recent times, the ranking procedure explains that many things are put into consideration.
It stated that the number of points that can be won in a match depends on “if the match was won or drawn, and how important the match is.’’
It also considers how strong the opposition team are in terms of ranking and the confederation they belong to.
These factors brought together are used in the formula to ascertain the number of points got from a match.
The next FIFA World ranking will be published on Jan. 16, 2014