Stars move to 17th spot on FIFA rankings

Accra, Oct. 20, GNA - Ghana's Black Stars has moved up three places to the 17th position in the October rankings released by world soccer governing body, Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA).

The rankings released on Wednesday also saw the Stars maintain their position as the second best team on the African continent behind champions, the Pharaohs of Egypt.

The Stars who were previously at 20th position in the world, gained two points to move to 891 points, behind France (888 points), Cote d'Ivoire (871 points) and Slovakia (865 points) who complete the top 20 in that order.

African champions, Egypt also slipped out of the top 10 for the first time in as many months to the 11th position in the world, largely due to the 1-1 draw in the CAN 2012 qualifier against Sierra Leone at home in September.

Egypt, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Algeria, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Gabon, Tunisia and Guinea make up the top 10 on the Africa continent.

Meanwhile, world champions Spain maintained their hold of the top spot with Netherlands, Brazil, Germany, Argentina, England, Uruguay, Portugal, Croatia and Russia completing the world's top 10 teams. The Stars latest ranking is three places shy of their best position in the monthly ratings, 14th position in the months of February, April and May in 2008. The next ranking will be released on November 17.