BAFANA ARE BIG CLIMBERS
South Africa were the big climbers in the COSAFA region in the latest FIFA World Rankings released on Wednesday.
Bafana Bafana are up seven places to 83rd in the world, 17th in Africa and second in COSAFA, leap-frogging Mozambique, Malawi and Angola in the region.
They are, however, still behind the top-ranked side in Southern Africa, Zambia, who are placed 71st in the world and 13th in Africa.
Zimbabwe jumped one place in the COSAFA rankings above Namibia to sixth, while there was otherwise little change in the listing.
Egypt remain the top-ranked side in Africa (and 12th in the world), followed by Cameroon (19th in the world), Nigeria (21st), Cote d'Ivoire (27th) and Algeria (30th).
The global table is headed by Brazil, who will go into the 2010 World Cup as the number one side, followed by Spain, Portugal, Netherlands and Italy.
COUNTRY |
WORLD |
AFRICA |
Zambia |
71 |
13 |
South Africa |
83 |
17 |
Mozambique |
85 |
18 |
Malawi |
86 |
19 |
Angola |
88 |
21 |
Zimbabwe |
110 |
27 |
Namibia |
111 |
28 |
Botswana |
116 |
31 |
Swaziland |
131 |
36 |
Madagascar |
148 |
40 |
Lesotho |
152 |
42 |
Comoros |
171 |
46 |
Mauritius |
172 |
47 |
Seychelles |
178 |
49 |