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Cape Town - Bafana Bafana have continued their free-fall in the FIFA world rankings, dropping to number 86, their lowest positions in over 15 years and putting them behind the likes of Haiti and Oman.

Although many pundits do not take the ratings too seriously in terms of assessing the strength of teams, they are important, as Kagisho Dikgacoi found out when he was denied a work-permit for England last year in his first attempt to move to Premiership Fulham.

Authorities are much less likely to issue a work-permit to players from countries who are ranked outside the top 70, meaning Bafana's lowly rating could scupper potential moves to the UK for PSL players.

CAF and FIFA also use the rankings to determine seedings for qualifying and major tournament finals, meaning unless Bafana can climb up the table quickly, they will face a tougher qualification road to the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations as they are currently rated as the 17th best side on the continent.

The big winners in Africa are Nigeria who move up from fifth position to third, behind continental leaders Cameroon (who are also ranked 11th in the world) and second placed Ivory Coast (16th in the world). Algeria move up to fourth and Egypt slip from third to fifth position.

Spain have moved back to the top of the global rankings, with Brazil dropping to second, followed by the Netherlands, Italy and Portugal.

The rankings will also help determine the seedings for the 2010 World Cup draw that will take place in Cape Town on December 4, though performances in the last three finals tournaments are also taken into account.