Bafana up 1 spot in latest FIFA rankings

Cape Town - Bafana Bafana have climbed one spot to 72nd in the latest men's FIFA world rankings released on Thursday.

Bafana find themselves in a tie with minnows Cape Verde.

Stuart Baxter's are tied for 14th-best in Africa.

Belgium remain top of the rankings, although the gap between the Red Devils, France (2nd, unchanged) and Brazil (3rd, unchanged) has narrowed over the past month.

Baxter's side have endured an indifferent 2019 AFCON campaign having suffered disappointing results against Libya and Seychelles. Despite this South Africa have moved up in the rankings.

It's a far cry from the glory days when Bafana cracked the top 20 in the rankings (at 19th) after winning the 1996 African Cup of Nations.

In Africa there are changes to the top five order with Senegal claiming the top spot, followed by Tunisia, Morocco, Nigeria and Congo.

Defeats for the leading duo in the UEFA Nations League resulted in both dropping six ranking points, while Brazil - even though they are still 50 points behind France - added seven after wins over Uruguay (7th, down 1) and Cameroon (55th, down 4).

Portugal (6th, up 1) were the team to profit from Uruguay’s slide down the table, while the Nations League successes of group winners Sweden and the Netherlands (joint-14th, up 3 and 1 respectively) are reflected in their improved positions. Back-to-back wins in the same competition also propelled Serbia (29th, up 6) and Czech Republic (42nd, up 6) to significant gains, although Morocco (40th, up 7) were the top 50’s biggest climbers after morale-boosting victories over Tunisia (26th, down 4) and the aforementioned Cameroon. The former result also benefited Senegal (23, plus 2), who have replaced the Tunisians as Africa’s top-ranked team.

Further down the table, the big climbers included the African quintet of Mozambique (117th, up 5), Angola (125th, up 5), Sudan (127th, up 8), Comoros (143rd, up 5) and Gambia (166th, up 7). The rise of Kosovo (131st, up 6) was also notable as it took them to their highest position ranking position to date.

The next FIFA world rankings will be published on December 20, 2018.

Top 20 in the latest FIFA rankings:

1. Belgium

2. France

3. Brazil

4. Croatia

5. England

6. Portugal

7. Uruguay

8. Switzerland

9. Spain

10. Denmark

11. Argentina

12. Colombia

13. Chile

T14. Sweden

T14. Netherlands

16. Germany

17. Mexico

18. Italy

19. Wales

T20. Poland

T20. Peru

Also:

T72. South Africa