On Wednesday, Fifa released the latest rankings of countries, with Nigeria showing remarkable progress.

Following Nigeria's 6 - 1 hammering of Liberia in the Afcon qualifiers last month, the Super Eagles have moved six places to perch at the 57th position in the world, and 10th in Africa.

Zambia, Burkina Faso and Ethiopia, the opponents of the Eagles at next year's African Cup of Nations in South Africa are ranked 39th, 89th and 102nd in the world respectively.

The rankings of World Cup qualifying opponents Malawi, Kenya and Namibia have diminished. Malawi fell five places and are now ranked 101st in the world(27th in Africa), Kenya from last month's ranking of 128th are now in the 130th position( 39th in Africa) while Namibia occupy the 117th position( zonal ranking 35th).

 The next ranking of countries will be published on December 19th.

Top 20 African Teams
  1    Côte d'Ivoire           
  2    Algeria       
  3    Mali           
  4    Ghana           
  5    Zambia           
  6    Egypt           
  7    Tunisia           
  8    Central African Republic   
  9    Gabon           
 10    Nigeria           
 11    Libya           
 12    Sierra Leone       
 13    Cameroon   
 14    Cape Verde Islands       
 15    Guinea           
 16    Morocco           
 17    Togo           
 18    Senegal       
 19    Benin           
  20    Angola