Egypt climb Fifa rankings
African champions move into Fifa’s top 10 after title win in Angola.
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| The ranking is Egypt’s highest placing and the second-highest for any African team [AFP] |
Africa Cup of Nations winners Egypt have surged up Fifa’s latest world rankings, with their third straight continental title lifting them 14 places to the No 10 position.
European champions Spain kept the top spot in the rankings, followed by Brazil and Netherlands.
World champions Italy are fourth and Portugal are fifth.
The top nine was unchanged after only No 8 Argentina played in the past month, beating Costa Rica 3-2 in a friendly match.
Pharaohs rising
Egypt claimed their highest-ever position in the rankings after successfully defending their title at the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola.
The spot is also the second-highest of any African team since the introduction of the rankings, only bettered by Nigeria who placed fifth in 1994.
Other African teams also benefited from strong Angola performances, include semi-finalists Nigeria who moved seven places to 15th and finalists Ghana who moved up seven places to 27th.
The United States were unchanged at No 14 to lead the CONCACAF nations and
Mexico are still No 17.
Australia are the top Asian nation at No 23, a fall of two places, and Japan rose three to No 40.
New Zealand, the World Cup qualifier from Oceania, climbed three spots to 79th.
Looking at the rankings in the context of South Africa’s World Cup, Group G is the only group to contain two teams from the top ten (Brazil and Portugal), while Group F appears to get off lightly with only one team (Italy) from the top 20.
Two groups look close: there are very few points separating Mexico and Uruguay in Group A and Chile and Switzerland in Group H.
Fifa’s rankings in full can be viewed here.
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