Senegal ends 2017 as Africa's best team on FIFA ranking

<p>World Cup bound Senegal ended 2017 as Africa’s best side according to the recent <span class="caps">FIFA</span> – Coca Cola ranking. The Teranga Lions, however, ranked 23rd on the global ladder.</p> <p>Tunisia (World ranking / WR = 27), Egypt (31), the Democratic Republic of Congo (39) and Morocco (40) respectively completed the top five African countries.</p> <p>The only World Cup representative that failed to make the top five was Nigeria (51) even though the Super Eagles were the first African side to qualify for the tournament which takes place next year in Russia.</p> <p>Ranking ahead of Nigeria were Burkina Faso (44), Cameroon (45) and Ghana (50) in that order. Completing the top 10 for Africa was Algeria (58). </p> <h2> <span class="caps">AFRICA</span>’S <span class="caps">REPRESENTATIVES</span> <span class="caps">AND</span> <span class="caps">THEIR</span> WC ‘<span class="caps">RECORD</span>’ </h2> <p>1. <span class="caps">EGYPT</span> – The Pharaohs are making their first world finals appearance since Italy 1990<br /> 2. <span class="caps">MOROCCO</span> – The Atlas Lions topped African zone Group C in qualification <br /> 3. <span class="caps">NIGERIA</span> – The Super Eagles have only missed one tournament since their debut at <span class="caps">USA</span> 1994<br /> 4. <span class="caps">SENEGAL</span> – In their debut at Korea/Japan 2002, the Lions of Teranga reached the quarter-finals<br /> 5. <span class="caps">TUNISIA</span> – At Argentina 1978, the Carthage Eagles became the first African team to win a World Cup match</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">??Germany are the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FIFARanking?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FIFARanking</a>’s latest ‘Team of the Year’, having ended 2017 atop the global ladder ?<br /> More ? <a href="https://t.co/Yfb7qexnMz">https://t.co/Yfb7qexnMz</a> <a href="https://t.co/qFr8pLENfz">pic.twitter.com/qFr8pLENfz</a></p>— <span class="caps">FIFA</span>.com (@FIFAcom) <a href="https://twitter.com/FIFAcom/status/943768079447752705?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 21, 2017</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <h2> <span class="caps">GROUPS</span> <span class="caps">INVOLVING</span> <span class="caps">AFRICAN</span> <span class="caps">TEAMS</span> </h2> <h3> <span class="caps">GROUP</span> A </h3> Russia – Saudi Arabia – Egypt – Uruguay <h3> <span class="caps">GROUP</span> B </h3> Portugal – Spain – Morocco – Iran <h3> <span class="caps">GROUP</span> D </h3> Argentina – Iceland – Croatia – Nigeria <h3> <span class="caps">GROUP</span> G </h3> Belgium – Panama – Tunisia – England <h3> <span class="caps">GROUP</span> H </h3> Poland – Senegal – Colombia – Japan