Branding: Who is taking FIFA ranking seriously?

Some football loving Nigerians have received the International Football Federation Association (FIFA) latest ranking of nations, especially of African countries, with misgiving, frustration and anger.

The latest ranking placed Nigeria, the African champion, on the fifth position, behind Cote D’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali and Algeria. Some Nigerians have reacted to the ‘latest’ ranking questioning the rationale of placing Nigeria fifth.

Bankole George, a brand specialist, wonders why the FIFA grading of countries on performance, which is the latest ranking, should place Nigeria fifth behind Mali for instance. Nigeria’s Super Eagles encounter with Mali in 2008 ended in a draw, while Nigeria defeated Mali in 2013 Nations Cup 4-1.

Nathaniel Akhigbe, a journalist, is equally confused on the latest ranking released six months after Nigeria won the 2013 Nations Cup and a few weeks after Nigeria defeated Cote D’Ivoire to qualify for African Nations Cup Championship. Nigeria also beat Cote D’ Ivoire in the Nations Cup played in January, this year.

Though FIFA, according to reports, ranks countries based on their men teams’ performance over the last four years, but Uche Onwuka, a football enthusiast, says Nigeria has been ahead of Mali and recently ahead of Cote D’Ivoire in recent encounters, especially at senior team level. This is even instructive when more recent results and more significant matches are being heavily weighted in the ranking to help reflect the current competitive state of a team.

Nigeria went to the 2013 Nations Cup undefeated and still ranks below those it defeated in African category ranking. According to some analysts, the low ranking is vexatious, especially as Nigeria is gaining points on its re-branding efforts after Western media colours the country in the picture they want.

Ajen Sita, CEO of EY, global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services, recently said at a forum hosted by EY Nigeria that “if you consider what foreign media write about some African countries you will not visit them.”

Head coach of the Nigerian national team, Stephen Keshi who said “he doesn’t know how the rankings work,” saying he was unmoved over the current position of the Super Eagles in the latest rankings.

“I don’t know how the rankings work so I am not worried about it. What I am worried about is seeing my team play well,” Keshi told supersport.com shortly after the latest rankings were released.

According to reports, the rankings were introduced in December 1992. A point system is used, with points being awarded based on the results of all FIFA-recognised full international matches.

“The ranking system was most recently revamped after the 2006 World Cup, with the first edition of the new series of rankings issued on July 12, 2006. The most significant change is that the rankings are now based on results over the previous four years instead of the previous eight years. The change is perceived to respond to criticisms that the FIFA World Rankings, based upon the previous calculation method in use from January 1999 to June 2006, did not effectively reflect the relative strengths of the national teams.”

By: Daniel Obi