Nigeria retained its 44th place in the latest FIFA rankings released on Thursday as well as the fourth place on the African ranking.
Belgium will end the year as No. 1 ahead of world champions France in the global rankings released by FIFA on Thursday.
Belgium, beaten by France in the World Cup semi-finals, edge Didier Deschamps’ team by one ranking point.
FIFA noted on their web site that France, who were ranked No. 9 last Christmas, were the year’s “Best Mover” after a “stellar 2018…having gained more points (165) since December 2017 than any other nation.”
The governing body of world football also noted that Europe and Asia have gained top-50 places at the expense of Africa.
Europe has 31, an increase of two, Asia is up one to three and Africa is down three to five top-50 representatives.
Kosovo were the biggest climbers, jumping 46 places to 131.
FIFA rankings, December 20:
- Belgium, 2. France, 3. Brazil, 4. Croatia, 5. England, 6. Portugal, 7. Uruguay, 8. Switzerland, 9. Spain, 10. Denmark.