Nigeria’s Super Falcons have fallen seven places to 43rd in the latest FIFA Women’s World Rankings, despite retaining their position as Africa’s highest-ranked women’s national team.
The 10-time African champions dropped from 36th following a disappointing campaign at the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.
Nigeria remain ahead of South Africa, Morocco, Ghana and Zambia, who occupy the continent’s second to fifth positions respectively.
The decline follows a difficult tournament for the Falcons, who opened their campaign with a 3-2 defeat to Malawi before recovering with a 1-0 victory over Zambia and a commanding 6-2 win against Egypt to reach the quarter-finals.
However, their progress ended with a 1-0 loss to Cameroon on August 9, marking the first time Nigeria had failed to reach the semi-finals of the continental competition.
The defeat ended the team’s hopes of securing automatic qualification for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil.
Nigeria subsequently lost 2-1 to South Africa in a play-off in Casablanca on August 13, further damaging their qualification hopes. Thembi Kgatlana and Refiloe Jane scored for South Africa, while substitute Christy Ucheibe converted a stoppage-time penalty for the Falcons.
The result marked a major setback for Nigeria, who had featured in every edition of the Women’s World Cup since the inaugural tournament in 1991.
There has, however, been some encouragement in the Falcons’ pursuit of qualification for the 2028 Olympic Games, with the team recording two victories over Comoros in the qualifying rounds.
The Super Falcons will now look to rebuild and improve their standing ahead of future international competitions.
FIFA is scheduled to release its next Women’s World Rankings on December 7, 2026.
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