Africans lose ground in FIFA rankings

Africa’s top-ranked teams in the FIFA- Coca-Cola Rankings have lost ground as the latest rankings were released by football’s world governing body yesterday.

Cote d’Ivoire (22nd), Algeria (26th) and Ghana (30th), the top three in Africa all dropped to either a step or two steps down their previous rankings, while giants such as Cameroun have also slipped from the top 50 in the world. The former African champions are now 51st in the world, followed by Congo (52nd), Guinea (53rd), Congo DR (55th), Egypt (57th) and Nigeria (59th) who complete the top 10 in Africa.

Belgium tops the FIFA/Coca-Cola World ranking for the first time in history. Les Diables Rouges (The Red Devils) have jumped two places on the November edition to replace previous leaders Argentina (3rd, down 2) and world champions Germany (2nd, unchanged).

The biggest climbers in the top 10 are Chile (5th, up 4), while England (9th, up 1) and Austria (10th, up 1) have each made slight progress. This is the first time that Belgium, Chile and Austria have ever reached such heights on the global ladder.