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Although they have been inactive for the past month, the complicated manner of calculating points for results over the past four years means they have lost places based on victories since 2009 now carrying a lesser weight.
It is a blow for national team coach Pitso Mosimane, who had spoken bullishly about Bafana Bafana entering the top four in the African rankings just last year.
But they are a long way off that now having slipped to number 15 on the continent, behind the likes of Guinea and Sierra Leone, the latter having scuppered their chances of appearing at the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.
Although many do not put much importance on the rankings, they are used to determine seedings for major finals and qualification campaigns, as well as by some European countries in determining the allocation of work permits to players.
Ivory Coast remain the top African side, followed by Ghana, Algeria, Mali and current African champions Zambia. Gabon, Libya, Egypt, Tunisia and Nigeria round out the Top 10.
Spain sit on top of the global rankings, but Netherlands have slipped to fourth behind Germany and Uruguay. Portugal have moved up to fifth, followed by Brazil, England, Croatia, Denmark and Argentina.
