Nigeria have moved up two places in the latest FIFA ranking released on Thursday.
The Super Eagles are now 43rd in the world, gaining 22 points in the month under review to be on 681 points.
The new position puts the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations winners as seventh-best in Africa behind Algeria (21st), reigning African champions Ivory Coast (24th), Tunisia (29th), Ghana (34th), Senegal (36th) and Cape Verde Islands (38th).
Guinea (45th), Congo (47th) and Cameroon (49th) complete the CAF top 10.
Chad, who will be facing Nigeria in the qualifiers for the 2017 AFCON, are ranked 172nd after moving downward by 20 places from last month’s ranking.
The other teams in Nigeria’s AFCON qualifying group, Tanzania and Egypt, also lost points and slid down the rankings.
The East Africans recently posted poor performances at the COSAFA Cup.
Tanzania are joint 127th in the world with Vietnam, down 20 places and with 89 points fewer on 215.
Egypt, who are re-building after a disastrous few years, are 55th in the world with 596 points, down four places with 13 fewer points than they had last month.
Tanzania’s Taifa Stars are 38th in Africa, Egypt’s Pharaohs 13th, and Chad 46th on the continent.
World champions Germany remain number 1, but Belgium overtook Argentina to move into second place, their highest-ever position since the launch of the world ranking. France also return to the top ten in ninth place at the expense of Switzerland (11th, down 2).
