WCQ Playoffs: No FIFA Rankings threat for Nigeria

The three-time African champions do not need to worry about being unseeded when the playoff draws are conducted next month

Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) president Amaju Pinnick has confirmed that Nigeria will be seeded when the 2022 World Cup qualifiers playoff draws take place in January next year.

The Super Eagles are one of the ten group winners that qualified for the playoff round in the CAF section of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.

The teams will be drawn against each other in a two-legged knockout match to determine Africa’s representative in Qatar 2022.

Initially, the draw for the playoffs was scheduled for December 18, with the top five ranked nations in the FIFA rankings seeded while the bottom five would be unseeded.

However, FIFA decided to postpone the draws to January 26, and there were fears that the Super Eagles could lose their top five rankings before then, which would make them unseeded.

But Pinnick has allayed all fears, saying it was agreed that the November rankings would be used to determine the seeded teams.

“The CAF Executive Committee met and decided that the last FIFA Rankings in November will be used for the World Cup Draws, Pinnick told the media on Thursday evening.

It means the Super Eagles will keep their seeded spot as they are currently ranked fifth on the African continent.