Third Place winners of the African Cup of Nations, Nigeria have moved up 12 spots to become the 33rd position in the latest FIFA Ranking.
The ranking which was released on Thursday, saw African champions Algeria move up 28 spots to take the 40th position, making them the biggest mover in the July edition by ranks and points (up 117).
Finalist Senegal moved up 2 spaces to take the 20th position, though they did not make a huge leap, they, however, reached their best-ever ranking position.
Madagascar made a surprising leap, the AFCON quarter-finalists clinched the 96th spot, moving up 12 spaces, they are above Benin who moved 6 spaces to take the 82nd position.
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With the continental finals of Africa, South America and North America and the Caribbean reaching a crescendo in the past month, the latest edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking sees a number of significant changes.
Unsurprisingly, the regional kings are some of the primary beneficiaries in the July update.
New South American champions Brazil (2nd, up 1) leapfrogged France (3rd, down 1) in second place and trail leaders Belgium by a narrow margin of 20 points. Other sides in Copa America action improved their Ranking positions substantially, namely quarter-finalists Uruguay (5th, up 3), Colombia (8th, up 5), and Venezuela (26th, up 7) – who reach their best-ever Ranking position after their run to the last eight. Bronze-medallists Argentina (10th, up 1) complete a quartet of South American teams in the top ten.
While the South American sides dominate the upper echelons of the Ranking, there have been significant gains by sides taking part in the CAF Africa Cup of Nations and Concacaf Gold Cup, too.
Concacaf champions Mexico (12th, up 6) and fellow finalist USA (22nd, up 8) made big strides up the table with an honourable mention for surprise semi-finalist Haiti (83rd, up 18).
The next FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking will be published on 19 September 2019.
FIFA rankings
1. Belgium
2. Brazil (+1)
3. France (-1)
4. England
5. Uruguay (+3)
6. Portugal (-1)
7. Croatia (-1)
8. Colombia (+5)
9. Spain (+2)
10. Argentina (+1)
Selected:
15. Germany (-4)
16. Italy (-2)
= The Netherlands (+2)
40. Algeria (+28)
