FIFA Ranking: Black Stars move three places to 51st

Graphic.com.gh Sports News Apr - 12 - 2018 , 11:19

Ghana's senior national team - the Black Stars - moved up three places to the 51st position of the latest FIFA world ranking released Thursday for the month of April despite being inactive during the recent international break.

The Black Stars were not engaged in friendlies but their total of 603 points ensured that they moved up.

However, the Stars remained put in 8th place in the African ranking.

March saw a busy month in international football, with a total of 133 games played across the globe meaning plenty of changes in the latest FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking.

Teams bound for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ grabbed some of the headlines this past month, with holders Germany remaining top – despite a draw and defeat in March – Belgium climbing onto the podium (third, plus two) following a thumping 4-0 win over Saudi Arabia and Tunisia (14th, plus nine) and Uruguay (17th, plus five) jumping up the table after both recording a pair of friendly victories in March. The Eagles of Carthage, for their efforts, reached their best-ever ranking.

The amount of games last month was partly down to a glut of friendly fixtures, but there was also competitive action, with qualifiers for the AFC Asian Cup making up 13 of those 133 matches. As a result, some lower-ranked Asian teams saw a remarkable upturn in fortunes. Kyrgyz Republic (75th, plus 40) stole the show on the world’s most populous continent this month, qualifying for their inaugural Asian Cup after defeating Myanmar and leaping up the latest ranking as a result. Elsewhere in Asia, Oman (87th, plus 16), Chinese Taipei (121, plus 13) and the Philippines (113th, plus nine), leapt up the table, partly as a consequence of positive results in Asian Cup qualifying.

There were also best-ever positions for the newest FIFA Member Associations, with Kosovo’s pair of friendly victories over Madagascar and Burkina Faso seeing them leap 24 places to 152nd, while Gibraltar’s 1-0 win over Latvia saw them jump ten spots to 196th.

The next FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking will be published on 17 May 2018.

Africa's top 10:

Tunisia (14)

Senegal (28)

Congo DR (38)