Nigeria’s D’Tigers have moved 10 places up in the recently-released FIBA Men World Rankings presented by Nike on Thursday.
According to FIBA, the rankings were updated following the conclusion of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 in China.
The U.S. maintained their top-ranked status but the newly-crowned World Cup champions Spain closing in the gap.
Nigeria’s qualification to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics was also instrumental to her recent 23rd spot from a 33rd position earlier, further earning the first spot in the continent.
Meanwhile, there was significant movement at the top end of the ranking, with Australia (673.6) climbing to third place.
They leapfrogged fourth-ranked Argentina (670.5) and fifth-placed France (665.4) in the process.
Coming into the World Cup as the 11th ranked team, Australia received extra points for beating higher-ranked teams in France and Lithuania.
This was on their way to their best-ever performance at the flagship event.
World Cup runners-up Argentina also moved up a spot at the expense of France.
The French’s overall points tally did increase at the World Cup, but they were not enough to compensate for the gains made by Australia and Argentina.
Czech Republic (596.8) and Poland (583.0) were among the highest risers, with their strong showings at the World Cup reflecting in the newly-updated ranking.
The Czechs climbed 14 places and are now 10th, while the Poles jumped to 13th place, having gained 12 positions.
The trajectory is also pointing up for some other World Cup participants, as Nigeria, Tunisia, Jordan, Japan, Cote d’Ivoire registered double-digit gains.
However, the countries losing ground were those not present at the 32-team tournament in China.
The FIBA World Ranking for Men, presented by NIKE, will next be updated following February’s Continental Cup Qualifiers.
