{"id":37145,"date":"2019-12-19T15:21:31","date_gmt":"2019-12-19T14:21:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/?p=37145"},"modified":"2019-12-19T15:21:31","modified_gmt":"2019-12-19T14:21:31","slug":"fifa-ranking-super-eagles-end-2019-as-worlds-31st-falcons-first-in-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/fifa-ranking-super-eagles-end-2019-as-worlds-31st-falcons-first-in-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"FIFA Ranking: Super Eagles End 2019 As World\u2019s 31st, Falcons First In Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nigeria\u2019s Super Eagles retained their spot as the world\u2019s 31st team in the World Football Ranking for the month of December.<\/p>\n

In the ranking table on the website of world football governing body FIFA on Thursday, Nigeria have garnered 1,493 points, same as they had in the November ranking.<\/p>\n

The ranking still helped the team retained the third spot on the continent, behind Senegal and Tunisia.<\/p>\n

On the global scene, Belgium are the FIFA\/Coca-Cola World Ranking\u2019s Team of the Year for the second successive time after a record-breaking year on the global ladder.<\/p>\n

The Red Devils have held on to top spot in a December table barely impacted by just 19 friendlies towards the end of the year.<\/p>\n

It was a year in which 1,082 international \u201cA\u201d matches have been played, and that is an all-time high since the ranking\u2019s inception in 1993.<\/p>\n

World champions France remain in second place ahead of Brazil in third, the positions they held in December 2018.<\/p>\n

However, the make-up of the year-end top five has changed.<\/p>\n

England have climbed one place in 2019 to end the year in fourth, with Uruguay moving up to fifth on the back of a two-spot rise.<\/p>\n

Argentina (9th) and Colombia (10th) are also in the top 10 at the expense of Switzerland (12th) and Denmark (16th).<\/p>\n

Both have slipped four and six places respectively over the course of the year.<\/p>\n

The ranking\u2019s Mover of the Year, meanwhile, are Qatar who gained an impressive 138 points over the course of the year.<\/p>\n

The FIFA World Cup 2022 hosts won the AFC Asian Cup and made a strong start to the Asian Zone World Cup qualifiers.<\/p>\n

Besides accumulating the biggest points haul, Qatar have also jumped a year-high 38 places, followed closely by fellow climbers Algeria (up 32 ranks) and Japan (up 22 ranks).<\/p>

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Advertisement<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\r\n \r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n
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Given the teams who have made the most progress in 2019, it is no surprise to find that the regional composition of the top 50 has changed over the year.<\/p>\n

Along with this is the fact that Europe\u2019s dominance has diminished.<\/p>\n

UEFA has lost three places in the top 50 compared to the end of 2018, and now has 28 teams.<\/p>\n

Whereas, Concacaf (4), the AFC (4) and CAF (4) have all gained one spot apiece.<\/p>\n

But in spite of all the changes witnessed over 2019, the year has ended on a quiet note.<\/p>\n

It has witnessed only the most modest of movements due to the scarcity of fixtures since the ranking\u2019s November edition.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, eight teams have all edged a single rung up the ladder, and will hope to continue that progress in 2020.<\/p>\n

These are Bahrain (99th), Bolivia (75th), Korea Republic (40th), Lesotho (139th), the Solomon Islands (141st), South Africa (71st), St Kitts and Nevis (139th) and Suriname (141st).<\/p>\n

Men\u2019s ranking:<\/strong><\/p>\n

1 Belgium
\n2 France
\n3 Brazil
\n4 England
\n5 Uruguay
\n6 Croatia
\n7 Portugal
\n8 Spain
\n9 Argentina
\n10 Colombia
\n11 Mexico
\n12 Switzerland
\n13 Italy
\n14 Netherlands
\n15 Germany
\n16 Denmark
\n17 Sweden
\n17 Chile
\n19 Poland
\n20 Senegal
\n21 Peru
\n22 USA
\n22 Wales
\n24 Ukraine
\n25 Venezuela
\n26 Austria
\n27 Tunisia
\n28 Japan
\n29 Turkey
\n29 Serbia
\n31 Nigeria
\n32 Slovakia
\n33 Iran
\n34 Republic of Ireland
\n35 Algeria
\n36 Northern Ireland
\n37 Romania
\n38 Russia
\n39 Iceland
\n40 Korea Republic
\n40 Paraguay
\n42 Australia
\n43 Morocco
\n44 Norway
\n45 Czech Republic
\n46 Costa Rica
\n47 Ghana
\n48 Jamaica
\n49 Bosnia and Herzegovina
\n50 Scotland<\/p>\n

Women\u2019s ranking<\/strong><\/p>\n

1 \u2013 USA
\n2 \u2013 Germany
\n3 \u2013 Netherlands
\n4 \u2013 France
\n5 \u2013 Sweden
\n6 \u2013 England
\n7 \u2013 Australia
\n8 \u2013 Canada
\n9 \u2013 Brazil
\n10 \u2013 Japan
\n11 \u2013 Korea DPR
\n12 \u2013 Norway
\n13 \u2013 Spain
\n14 \u2013 Italy
\n15 \u2013 China
\n16 \u2013 Denmark
\n17 \u2013 Belgium
\n18 \u2013 Iceland
\n19 \u2013 Switzerland
\n20 \u2013 Korea Republic
\n21 \u2013 Austria
\n22 \u2013 Scotland
\n23 \u2013 New Zealand
\n24 \u2013 Russia
\n25 \u2013 Colombia
\n26 \u2013 Mexico
\n27 \u2013 Ukraine
\n28 \u2013 Czech Republic
\n28 \u2013 Finland
\n30 \u2013 Poland
\n31 \u2013 Portugal
\n32 \u2013 Vietnam
\n32 \u2013 Republic of Ireland
\n34 \u2013 Wales
\n34 \u2013 Argentina
\n36 \u2013 Chile
\n37 \u2013 Costa Rica
\n38 \u2013 Thailand
\n39 \u2013 Nigeria<\/strong>
\n40 \u2013 Chinese Taipei
\n41 \u2013 Serbia
\n42 \u2013 Uzbekistan
\n43 \u2013 Romania
\n44 \u2013 Myanmar
\n45 \u2013 Hungary
\n46 \u2013 Papua New Guinea
\n47 \u2013 Slovakia
\n48 \u2013 Paraguay
\n49 \u2013 Cameroon
\n50 \u2013 Slovenia<\/p>\n

NAN\/FIFA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nigeria\u2019s Super Eagles retained their spot as the world\u2019s 31st team in the World Football Ranking for the month of December.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":32725,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[6582,380],"coauthors":[2391],"class_list":["post-37145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-sports","tag-falcons","tag-super-eagles"],"yoast_head":"\nFIFA Ranking: Super Eagles End 2019 As World\u2019s 31st, Falcons First In Africa - National Wire<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/fifa-ranking-super-eagles-end-2019-as-worlds-31st-falcons-first-in-africa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"FIFA Ranking: Super Eagles End 2019 As World\u2019s 31st, Falcons First In Africa - 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