Bafana Bafana
Bafana slip to No 60
2012-03-07 11:46
Johannesburg - South Africa’s gradual slide down the FIFA World Rankings continued on Wednesday when they slipped to number 60.
It is a long way off the highs of May 2011, when the team were ranked 38th in the world and an impressive fourth in Africa.
But six games without a win in the tail end of last year and into this have meant the side have lost their grip on a top 50 place and now sunk even lower.
The 2012 Africa Cup of Nations finalists Ivory Coast have held on to top spot in Africa, followed by Ghana. Algeria cling on to third, with continental champions Zambia enjoying fourth position.
Mali are in fifth, while the remainder of the top 10 is filled by Gabon, Libya, Tunisia, Nigeria and South Africa.
Ivory Coast’s 15th position in the world rankings is also just one place off their previous best, which they achieved in June 2011.
There was also quite a bit of change in the global rankings, with Spain remaining the top team, but the Netherlands returning to second at the expense of Germany.
Uruguay stay in fourth, but Brazil have moved up two places to fifth. The rest of the top 10 includes England, Portugal, Argentina, Italy and Croatia.