Nigeria's free fall in the monthly FIFA ranking may land Super Eagles players ply­ing their trade in England in trouble.


The Eagles according to the latest FIFA ranking released Thursday are rated 70 in the world and 17th in Africa below African soccer minnows like Benin Republic and Uganda.


And going by British soccer rules, non EU (Eu­ropean Union) players from countries that are ranked below 70 in the world are not entitled to work permit.


As it stands, should the Eagles remain where they are at the moment or slip further in the months ahead, then players from Nigeria risk not getting their UK work permit renewed.


"If Nigeria slip one more place, her players can't play in England," said African football expert Tunde Adelakun.


"Work permit laws for non-European players say the player's country has to be in top 70 in the world."


An immediate casualty of this could be Nigeria U20 skipper, Kelechi Nwakali, who is set to soon sign a professional contract with Arsenal.


Nigerian stars in England include Odion Ighalo, Isaac Success (Watford), Ahmed Musa (Leicester City), Kel­echi Iheanacho (Manches­ter City) and Mikel Obi, Victor Moses (Chelsea).



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This is serious

Really serious

When we ask them to play well, they'll be doing anyhow.

Do the players know about this rule? Hopefully we can go up soonest.