The Super Eagles on Wednesday moved one step up in the monthly FIFA rankings to occupy 44th spot from their previous 45th position in the April rankings.
The Coach Stephen Keshi tutored side were virtually inactive in the period under review as FIFA rightly admitted that the May edition just released reflects the results of just 13 new matches.
The world football governing body also pointed out that no fewer than 143 teams retained their place in May from the last ranking in April.
While the Eagles moved up one notch in the world rankings, it was quite inconsequential for AFCON champs in the ordering of African teams as they remain 6th while Ivory Coast remain the number one team on the continent having been ranked in the 21st position in the world.
Egypt, Ghana, Algeria and Cape Verde are the other teams ranked above Nigeria. Tunisia Cameroun, Guinea and Mali complete the roster of the top ten teams in Africa
Spain are still ranked top in the world; a position they have monopolised since September 2012. They are being followed by Germany (2nd, unchanged) and Portugal (3rd, unchanged).
From the May rankings, there was some notable movement in the top ten, however, with Brazil climbing two places to fourth to lead the pack of four South American teams ahead of Colombia (5th, down 1), Uruguay (6th, down 1) and Argentina (7th, down 1).
It is Brazil’s best position on the global ladder since July 2011.
The biggest climb, however, was achieved by Mauritania from North-West Africa (139th, up 13), thanks to two wins in CAF Africa Cup of Nations qualifying.
The next FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking will be published on June 5.
The Ranking for African teams came as follows:
21 Côte d’Ivoire 830
24 Egypt 798
25 Algeria 795
38 Ghana 713
42 Cape Verde Islands 665
45 Nigeria 620
49 Tunisia 597
50 Cameroon 583
51 Guinea 580
59 Mali 545
In the international level, the ranking came as follows:
Spain 1460
Germany 1340
Portugal 1245
Colombia 1186
Uruguay 1181
Argentina 1174
Brazil 1174
Switzerland 1161
Italy 1115
Greece 1082
