Nigeria’s Super Falcons have dropped seven places to 43rd in the latest FIFA Women’s World Rankings but remain Africa’s highest ranked team.
The October rankings, released on Tuesday, show Nigeria lost 83.54 points after a difficult run that included the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, Olympic qualifiers and international friendlies.
The Falcons remain ahead of South Africa, ranked 59th, Cameroon at 62nd, Morocco at 64th and Ghana at 65th.
Nigeria’s slide follows a disappointing WAFCON campaign in Morocco, where the defending champions failed to reach the semifinals for the first time in the tournament’s history.
The team lost 3-2 to Malawi in their opening match but recovered with wins over Zambia and Egypt to reach the quarterfinals.
They were then knocked out by Cameroon, losing 1-0 on August 9.
Nigeria also lost 2-1 to South Africa in a playoff for a place at the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil.
That defeat ended the Falcons’ record of qualifying for every edition of the tournament since it began in 1991.
They have, however, made progress in their bid to qualify for the 2028 Olympic Games, recording two wins over Comoros.
Malawi made the biggest leap in the latest rankings, climbing 49 places to 104th after gaining 158.44 points.
African champions Cameroon also rose nine places.
Spain retained the top spot globally, ahead of the United States and Germany.
FIFA says the next women’s world rankings will be released on December 7, 2026.
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