Ghana up in FIFA rankings

Ghana has broken into the top 20 in the lastest FIFA rankings released by the world football-governing body on its official website on Wednesday.

The World Cup quarter-finalists moved up three spots to stay the second best team in Africa behind Egypt, the continent’s champions. They are followed by Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Algeria and Cameroon, all among Africa’s best national teams, according to the rankings.

Fifa updated the standings, which weigh results over a four-year cycle, using 159 international matches played over five weeks. Euro 2012 and 2012 African Cup of Nations qualifiers carried the most points.

Winners of the World Cup Spain stay at the top, with Germany and England rising after back-to-back wins in the European Championship qualifiers. The rankings see France, who lost a home Euro 2012 qualifier to Belarus, dropping six places to No 27 – their worst position since the rankings were introduced in 1993.

Nigeria dropped from 30th to 34th position in the world. Egypt maintained its position as number nine in the world as the only African country in the top ten.

Meanwhile, Gabon, Cameroun, Burkina Faso and Cote d'Ivoire also moved up in the rankings.
South Africa has also risen in the rankings after moving up eight spots to 58. They have now broken into the top ten teams in Africa, behind Tunisia who are the ninth best team in the continent and 56th best globally.

The team who made the biggest move was Montenegro, jumping 33 positions to 40th. That feat is even more impressive, considering they were at the bottom of the rankings after joining FIFA just three years ago.