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| Ghana rise to best-ever ranking |
2/14/2008 |
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... #1 in Africa; 14th in the world
Ghana have achieved their best placing in the latest FIFA world rankings after reaching the 2008 African Nations Cup semi-final.
The host nation climbed 29 places, from 43rd to joint 14th in the rankings, making her the highest ranked African nation in the standings.
The recently concluded competition clearly left its mark on the ranking, which are published monthly by world soccer''s governing body. While there have been no changes at the top as Argentina, Brazil and Italy remain out in front with just a few points separating them, two African teams - Ghana (14th, up 29) and Cameroon (17th, up 8) - have broken into the top 20.
Fellow Cup of Nations semi-finalists Egypt (29th, up 6), who went on to successfully defend their title, and Côte d''Ivoire (24th, up 14) have also made progress up the ranking. Furthermore, Ghana''s 14th place represents an all-time best and makes them Africa''s top-ranked team of the moment.
Nigeria (45th, down 26) have plummeted after failing to meet expectations at the Cup of Nations and have gone from being the top African side in the ranking to only the continent''s sixth best.
The biggest movers in February are all inside the top 100, namely Australia (38th, up 10), Latvia (72nd, up 13), Bahrain (83rd, up 17), Thailand (92nd, up 15) and Guatemala (94th, up 11). Ghana are not the only team to have achieved their best-ever position since the ranking was introduced in August 1993 as they are joined by Greece (10th, up 1), Moldova (49th, up 4), New Caledonia (115th, up 2) and the Turks and Caicos Islands (158th, up 21).
In the lower reaches of the ranking, Belize (176th, up 25) also deserve a mention after clambering off bottom place after their first victory in almost six years.
A total of 117 international ''A'' matches have been played in the last few weeks, the most important of which besides the Africa Cup of Nations (32 matches) were CONCACAF and AFC qualifying matches for the FIFA World Cupâ„¢ (17 matches). The other 68 fixtures were friendlies.
IFA rankings (previous position in brackets)
1. (1.) Argentina
2. (2.) Brazil
3. (3.) Italy
4. (4.) Spain
5. (5.) Germany
6. (6.) Czech Republic
7. (7.) France
8. (8.) Portugal
9. (9.) Netherlands
10. (11.) Greece
11. (12.) England
12. (10.) Croatia
13. (13) Romania
14. (43.) Ghana
14. (14.) Scotland
16. (17.) Mexico
17. (25.) Cameroon
18. (16.) Turkey
19. (18.) Bulgaria
20. (23.) Poland full table
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Source: FIFA
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