Ghana, S. Africa rise in FIFA rankings

  1. Posted on Wednesday 15 September 2010 - 14:16
    Gbentil
    Image of Gbentil
    Glorea Bentil, AfricaNews reporter in Accra, Ghana
    World Cup quarter-finalists Ghana are ranked 20th in the latest FIFA/Coca-Cola world ranking released on Wednesday. They still maintain their second spot on the continent behind champions Egypt. Meanwhile, South Africa have continued their good run of results since Pitso Mosimane took over.
    Lovely South African fan pose for our cameras Photo_Selay Marius K
    South Africa won 1-0 against Ghana in a friendly game and then following that victory up with a 2-0 win over Niger in their African Nations Cup qualifier.

    These two results have allowed Bafana to move eight places forward in the table from 66 to 58 position. Another significant fact about their latest movement, is that they have now broken into the top ten African teams in the ranking, coming in at tenth, behind Tunisia two places ahead of them.

    Elsewhere in Africa some of the smaller teams did well to progress in the rankings. Gambia moved up 12 places and an impressive Botswana moved up 11 places to position 82, the highest ever ranking they have managed to achieve in their history.

    They recently beat Tunisia, drew 1-1 draw against Malawi in Blantyre and then defeated both Chad and Togo to top Group K of the African Nations Cup qualifiers and assure themselves of a spot in the 2012 tournament, once again for the first time in their history.

    The biggest improvement on the continent came from Cape Verde, who moved up 31 places to 77, after an incredible 1-0 victory over Mali in their African Nations Cup qualifier. Egypt remain the top ranked African side, solidly in position 8 on the overall rankings, while Ghana and Ivory Coast complete the top three on the continent.

    Top 10 in Africa

    1 Egypt (8)
    2 Ghana (20)
    3 Cote d'Ivoire (23)
    4 Gabon (31)
    5 Nigeria (34)
    6 Algeria (35)
    7 Cameroon (37)
    8 Burkina Faso (39)
    9 Tunisia (56)
    10 South Africa (58)

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