A ‘boardroom’ defeat led Nigeria to drop one place to ninth in the FIFA Africa rankings for December released Thursday.

Nigeria’s Kelechi Iheanacho (14) celebrates with teammates after scoring the team’s first goal during an international friendly football match between Argentina and Nigeria in Krasnodar on November 14, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / Mladen ANTONOV

Nigeria had a 1-1 World Cup qualifying draw in Algeria last month changed to a 3-0 defeat by FIFA officials after they fielded suspended Abdullahi Shehu.

The result did not affect on the final standings with Nigeria finishing five points ahead of Zambia with Cameroon third and Algeria last.

Ghana moved above Nigeria to eighth and Algeria rose to 10th with 2015 Africa Cup of Nations title-holders the Ivory Coast falling out of a top 10 headed by Senegal.

Africa Top 10

1. Senegal (world ranking 23), 2. Tunisia (27), 3. Egypt (31), 4. Democratic Republic of Congo (39), 5. Morocco (40), 6. Burkina Faso (44), 7. Cameroon (45), 8. Ghana (50), 9. Nigeria (51), 10. Algeria (58)