IFFHS ranks Nigeria’s league low in Africa

BY KUNLE SOLAJA.

The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) has ranked the Nigeria Premier Football League the ninth in Africa, even behind those of Angola, Tanzania and Sudan.  Worldwide, the lead Nigerian league is ranked 77^th among the top 80 national leagues of the world.

However, the ranking is before the current season which is being packaged by the Interim Management Committee.

The ranking is for the period 1 January 2022 to 31^st December 2022. The statistics made available indicates a sharp drop in the Nigerian league which as at 31 December 2021 was ranked 44 in world.

It shows that the league dropped 33 steps down the ladder in the season that was  concluded. In July last year.

In contrast, Egypt, which league is highest rated in Africa ranked 14^th in 2021 and improved to 13^th globally in 2022.

Algeria had even a more significant improvement from 29^th in 2021 to 20^th in 2022. The same applies to Africa’s third best football league, the Moroccan Botola Pro.

In 2021, the Moroccan league was ranked 30^th and moved significantly up the ladder to 24^th as at December 2022. The Sudanese league that is fourth ranked in Africa rose from 74^th in 2021 to 33^rd in 2022.

There are others in Africa rated above Nigeria. They include Africa’s fifth ranked league, Tanzania which globally moved from 62^nd in 2021 to 39^th in the world in the latest ranking.

The next African league, that of South Africa dropped from 31^st in 2021 to 52^nd in 2022.Though seventh placed in the continent, Angola dropped from 37^th in 2021 to 60^th in 2022 global ranking.

Tunisia’s league placed eighth in Africa and 68^th in the world dropping from their 38^th position in 2021.  The Zambian league is the 1oth in Africa and 79^th in the world dropping from their earlier 52^nd position.

The poor ranking of the Nigerian league could also be gleaned from the poor runs the country’s clubs have been having in the elite club league championship of CAF.

Since 2013, a space of 10 years, only Enyimba  in 2016 and Lobi Stars in 2018/19 managed to get to the group stage of the CAF Champions League, even when the groups were increased from two to four since 2017.

The relative strength of a nation’s league, especially in Africa can also be measured by the performances in the African Nations Championship.

In nine editions, Nigeria qualified just thrice and have won no title thus calling for the need to strengthen the domestic league.