FIFA World Ranking: African teams continue advance

Since its introduction in August 1993, the FIFA World Ranking has become a regular part of international sports reports and an important indicator for FIFA member associations to find out where their respective teams stand in world football's pecking order and how they are progressing.

• European Champion Spain ranks on first place top 100 teams with 1657 pts, followed by Germany with no changes 1413 pts and the world champion Italy 1356 pts. Brazil, Netherlands, Argentina and Croatia rank on the following places.
• African teams continue their advance. Both 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 successfully defend their title, and Cote 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.
• Algeria’s highest FIFA ranking was in December 1992 (30) then in 1993 (35). Algeria begun moving up and down since 1994 (57), 1995 (48), 1996 (49), 1997 (59), 1998 (71), 1999 (86), 2000 (82), 2001 (75), 2002 (68), 2003 (62), 2004 (73), 2005 (80), 2006 (80), 2007 (79), Jan 2008 (76), Feb 2008 (77), Mar 2008 (78), April (101), May 2008 (100), Jun 2008 (103) Algeria’s Lowest FIFA Ranking, and Jul 2008 (93). In April 2008 Algeria was the Worst mover (23 pts), Aug 2008 (90), Sep 2008 (76).In Oct 2008 (56) Algeria was considered Best mover (20pts).                
• Algeria average position from FIFA World Ranking creation is 67.