FOLLOWING the exit of Morocco last night from the AFCON 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, the Super Eagles of Nigeria are the top team left in the competition, going by FIFA ranking.
Morocco, who set an African record by reaching the Qatar 2022 World Cup semi-finals and were favourites to win the AFCON 2023 title in Cote d’Ivoire, are the highest-ranked team from the continent in FIFA’s latest ranking released in December.
The Atlas Lions are ranked 13th in the world and were bundled out in the AFCON 2023 round of 16 by South Africa, who are ranked 66th in the world and 12th in Africa.
Senegal, the defending champions and Africa’s No.2 ranked team (20th in the world) were also beaten in the round of 16 by Cote d’Ivoire (eighth in Africa, 49th in the world).
Tunisia (third in Africa, 28th in the world) and Algeria (fourth in Africa and 30th in the world) did not even make it out of the group phase.
Africa’s No.5 and world’s No.33 Egypt were knocked out in the round of 16 by Democratic Republic of Congo, ranked 13th in Africa and 67th in the world.
The eight teams left in AFCON 2023 listed by the order of their ranking are: the Super Eagles of Nigeria (No.6 in Africa and No.42 in the world), Cote d’Ivoire (8 and 49), Mali (9 and 51), South Africa (12 and 66), DR Congo (13 and 67), Cape Verde (14 and 73), Guinea (15 and 80), and Angola (28 and 117).
Interestingly, the Super Eagles will take on Angola in Friday’s quarter-final, with a whopping 75 FIFA ranking spots between them (No.42 in the world versus No.117 in the world).
Also on Friday, DR Congo will battle Guinea, while Saturday will see Mali against Cote d’Ivoire and South Africa versus Cape Verde.
