Cote d’Ivoire has ended the year (2013) as Africa’s best ranked team, according to the FIFA rankings released on Thursday, December 19, 2013.
The Elephants started the year at the top of the continental rankings and maintained their status throughout and finish as Africa’s only team in the top 20. The impressive performance of Didier Drogba and his teammates, capping it with qualification for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, was vital to their 17th position with 918 points.
Ghana (849 points) is ranked second and Algeria third (800 points), 24th and 26th globally, making them the only other African teams in the top 30 bracket.
Nigeria (37th) – 710 points, Cape Verde (39th) – 698 points, Egypt (41st) – 695 points, Mali (45th) – 664 points, Tunisia (48th) – 632 points, Cameroon (50th) – 615 points and Burkina Faso (53th) – 591 points complete the continent’s top 10 teams.
Libya (59) – 558 points, Guinea (61) – 555 points, South Africa (62) – 554 points, Senegal (65) – 536 points, Zambia (69) – 523 points, Togo (72) – 504 points, Morocco (73) – 490 points, Sierra Leone (75) – 471 points, Gabon (77) – 453 points, DR Congo (82) – 427 points, Congo (84) – 421 points, Uganda (86) – 402 points, Angola (88) – 384 points, Ethiopia (93) – 374 points and Botswana (97) follow in that order.
Others are Liberia (98) – 354 points, Benin (99) – 342 points, Niger (104) – 318 points, Central African Republic (106) – 310 points, Zimbabwe (107) – 299 points, Equatorial Guinea (108) – 294 points, Kenya (109) – 293 points, Malawi (116) – 272 points, Mozambique (118) – 264 points, Sudan (119) – 259 points, Tanzania (120) – 256 points, Burundi (124) – 239 points, Namibia (125) – 237 points, Gambia (131) – 202 points and Rwanda (133) – 197 points.
The rest are Lesotho (138) – 187 points, Mauritania (142) – 180 points, Sao Tome & Principe (158) – 139 points, Chad (164) – 116 points, Seychelles (176) – 67 points, Mauritius (177) – 66 points, Guinea Bissau (184) – 42 points, Swaziland (186) – 37 points, Madagascar (187) – 33 points, Comoros (198) – 17 points, Eritrea (200) – 11 points, South Sudan (201) – 10 points, Somalia (203) – 8 points and Djibouti (204) – 6 points.
*World rankings in brackets
Confederation of African Football News
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