Super Eagles Drop Places in Latest FIFA Rankings as 2026 World Cup Hopes Fade

• The Super Eagles of Nigeria have dropped in the latest FIFA rankings after the September international break
• Nigeria moved down places in the world ranking but retained their position in Africa despite poor outing at CHAN
• Nigeria's World Cup hopes took a huge blow after the 1-1 draw against Group C leaders South Africa in Bloemfontein

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The Super Eagles of Nigeria have dropped places on the latest FIFA rankings for September after their performance during the 2026 World Cup qualifier.

Nigeria has taken part in five official FIFA matches since the last time the ranking was released and has generally performed poorly in the majority.

The home-based Eagles had a tournament to forget at the 2024 African Nations Championship held in Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya.

CHAN Eagles, coached by Eric Chelle, lost their opening two matches, including a 4-0 defeat to Sudan, before beating Congo Republic 2-0 in the third match to no avail.

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The Super Eagles resumed play for the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier in September, with Chelle not calling up home-based players after their performance at CHAN.

Tolu Arokodare's strike was enough to secure a 1-0 victory over the Amavubi of Rwanda at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, Uyo.

Nigeria, however, failed to scale their biggest hurdle against South Africa, settling for a 1-1 draw, which threw their World Cup destiny out of their hands.

Nigeria drops places in latest FIFA rankings

The Super Eagles have dropped two places in the latest FIFA rankings as they sit in 45th place globally, down from 43rd five months ago.

Nigeria retained their sixth place in Africa despite a run of two losses, two wins and a draw in the five matches played since the last international window in March.

The Eagles have a chance to redeem themselves in the final two matches of the World Cup qualifier against Lesotho and Benin Republic in October.

According to Goal, African countries will not converge for the November international break because of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, which kicks off on December 18.

According to CAF Online, Nigeria were drawn in Group C alongside North African giant Tunisia and East African rivals Uganda and Tanzania.

The Super Eagles, which finished runners-up at the last edition in Ivory Coast after losing 2-1 to the hosts, will hope to take the next tournament a step further.

They will reignite their rivalry and also have revenge in mind against Tunisia, which eliminated them from the 2021 edition in the Round of 16.

If Nigeria misses out on qualifying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, AFCON will be Eric Chelle’s perfect tournament to redeem himself, if the NFF retains him.

Ex-president blames NFF for Super Eagles' woes

Legit.ng reported that a former NFF president blamed the federation for the scheduling mistake he believes cost the Super Eagles the World Cup ticket.

Nigeria had only two days to travel, recover, and train before playing against South Africa in Bloemfontein after their 1-0 win over Rwanda in Uyo.

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