[FILE] Nigerian players celebrate a goal during the African Cup of Nations qualification match between Nigeria and Libya in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State in southern Nigeria, on October 13, 2018. – Nigeria beat Libya 4-0 with Odion Ighalo grabbing a hat-trick for the Super Eagles to get their 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign firmly back on track in Uyo, southern Nigeria. (Photo by PIUS UTOMI EKPEI / AFP)
The Super Eagles have moved four places up the ladder on the FIFA world ranking. With the latest ranking released yesterday by the world football governing body, the Eagles now occupy the number 44 spot in the world and third on the African continent with Tunisia retaining the first position in Africa and number 22 in the world.
The Eagles’ four places rise was due to the back-to-back victories over Libya in the recently played Africa Cup of Nations qualifying. The Terenga Lions of Senegal occupy the second spot on the continent and 25th in the world.
Other African teams that moved up in the latest rankings are Egypt (58th, up six places), Madagascar (100th, up six places), Namibia (109th, up seven), Zimbabwe (110th, up seven) and Burundi (142nd, up six spots).
Congo DR, Morocco, Cameroun, Ghana, Burkina Faso, and Cote d’Ivoire complete Africa’s top 10 on the world ranking in that order. The teams made significant gains on the back of strong results in the CAF Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
Last month, Belgium joined France in becoming the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking’s first-ever joint leaders. Now the Red Devils are in sole possession of top spot, albeit by the narrowest possible margin – 1733 ranking points to Les Bleus’ 1732.
Meanwhile, Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode has approved the appointments into the boards of 40 state sports associations. This was made known by the Executive Chairman of Lagos State Sports Commission, Dr. Kweku Adedayo Tandoh.
According to Tandoh, the appointments take immediate effect and will be for a four-year tenure in line with the stipulations contained in the enabling law that established Lagos State Sports Commission.Dr. Tandoh said the new board members were painstakingly selected to ensure that only men and women with passion, knowledge and commitment for sports were brought on board.
“We are certain that with the new boards in place, the pace of sports development in the state, particularly grassroots sports development, will be very much accelerated,” he said.He stated that the boards were expected to swing into action immediately, especially in view of the forthcoming 19th National Sports Festival scheduled to hold in Abuja in December.
Lagos dissolved the former Boards some months ago following the expiration of their tenures. Some of the 40 associations include athletics, badminton, boxing, cricket, cycling and swimming. others are scrabble, para-athletics, deaf sports, basketball and judo among others.
