AFCON 2025
Nigeria’s Super Eagles maintained their 26th position in the latest FIFA Men’s World Rankings, released on Monday, but have dropped one place to fourth in Africa after Egypt’s impressive World Cup run pushed the Pharaohs above them on the continental log.
Egypt enjoyed their best World Cup campaign in history, reaching the Round of 16 in the expanded 48-team tournament before their run came to a heartbreaking end against Argentina. The Pharaohs pushed the eventual runners-up all the way, only to fall 3-2 in a match that swung on fine margins. It was the closest Egypt have come to reaching a World Cup quarter-final, and the exit will sting given how competitive they were against one of the tournament’s strongest sides. Still, the performance earned Egypt enough ranking points to climb above Nigeria in Africa.
The Super Eagles have not featured since a 2-1 friendly defeat to Portugal in June, so the shift in Africa came from movement elsewhere rather than from their own results. Nigeria’s global ranking remained unchanged because the team had no matches to earn points during the World Cup window, having missed out on qualification.
Meanwhile, Morocco stayed Africa’s highest-ranked side, moving up to a record sixth in the world after reaching the World Cup quarter-finals, where they lost to France. Senegal held second place in Africa despite slipping three places globally, while Algeria rounded out the continent’s top five after dropping one spot worldwide.
At the top of the global rankings, newly crowned world champions Spain reclaimed the number one spot following their 1-0 win over Argentina in the World Cup final. Argentina slipped to second, with France and England completing the world’s top four.
Nigeria failed to reach the expanded 48-team World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico after finishing behind South Africa in their qualifying group and then losing to DR Congo in the CAF playoffs. The Super Eagles remain among the highest-ranked nations to miss the tournament.
FIFA will release its next set of world rankings on October 7, 2026.
