Nigeria Jumps In FIFA Rankings

Joseph Yobo with the AFCON trophy

With just five days to the end of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa,  Nigeria is reaping from the gold won by the Super Eagles at the AFCON.
The February edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking is dominated by the CAF Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa. By claiming their third title, Nigeria  have not only ended a 19-year drought since they last won the tournament, but have also climbed 22 places from 52nd position in January to 30th in February - their best ranking since August 2010. On the African continent, Nigeria who are ninth last month are now third in the latest ranking. Beaten finalists at the Nations Cup, Burkina Faso, have moved up a massive 37 places to 55th in the world. Hosts South Africa (60th, up 25) have also enjoyed a significant leap of 25 places.
Although former Africa Cup of Nations winners Côte d'Ivoire (12th, up 2) bowed out at the quarter-final stage, last year's runners-up have achieved their best-ever world ranking (12th). Mali are second in Africa, while Algeria and Tunisia are fourth and fifth respectively.
However, the Elephants have not made it into the top ten in the world, where Spain (1st, unchanged) continue to reign supreme ahead of Germany (2nd, unchanged) and Argentina (3rd, unchanged). England (4th, up 2) complete the top four after their home win over Brazil.
The first matches of the latest round of CONCACAF qualifying matches for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil have resulted in improved rankings for nearly all of the teams involved, with Panama (42nd, up 4), Honduras (51st, up 8), Costa Rica (53rd, up 13) and Jamaica (56th, up 2) all making progress once again. Only the USA (32nd, down 4) have fallen in the ranking. Olympic champions Mexico remain in 15th place despite their goalless draw against Jamaica in the Aztec Stadium. Venezuela (45th, up 10) have returned to the top 50, which now contains all ten CONMEBOL teams.