Despite missing out on qualification for next year’s FIFA World Cup in the United States, Mexico, and Canada, Nigeria’s Super Eagles ended the 2025 among the top 40 men’s teams globally.
This is as the West African football powerhouse, are set to begin their pursuit of a fourth Africa Cup of Nations title on Tuesday against Tanzania at the Fez Stadium in Fez, Morocco.
The Super Eagles climbed four places in the latest FIFA/Coca-Cola Men’s World Ranking, released on Monday.
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They now sit at 38th worldwide and the fifth-best team on the African continent.
The squad, led by Coach Eric Chelle, ranks behind Morocco (Africa’s top team, 11th globally), Senegal (second in Africa, 19th globally), Algeria (third in Africa, 34th globally), and Egypt (fourth in Africa, 35th globally).
In the global standings, Spain continues to lead world champions Argentina, having reclaimed the top spot in September 2025.
Fresh from their regional triumph in Doha, Qatar, Morocco (11th, unchanged) are just shy of breaking into the top 10 for the first time since April 1998, trailing Croatia (10th, unchanged) by a mere 0.54 points.
Spain (1st, unchanged) remains at the summit after dislodging second-placed Argentina (2nd, unchanged) in September, with France (3rd, unchanged) completing the podium in the year-end rankings.
Alongside Croatia, other top 10 nations England (4th), Brazil (5th), Portugal (6th), the Netherlands (7th), Belgium (8th), and Germany (9th) all maintain their positions.
The breakdown of the top 50 by confederation at the close of 2025 is largely consistent with the previous year.
UEFA accounts for 26 nations, CONMEBOL and CAF each have seven (CONMEBOL down by one), Concacaf and the AFC both have five (Concacaf up by one), and the OFC has none.