Zambia's players celebrate together after a meaningful victory over the Ivory Coast [Reuters] |
African Press Organization (APO) — The
Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, which drew to a
close last Sunday, has clearly left its mark on the current edition of
the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking, as Zambia, the newly crowned African
champions, secured their first-ever title and have thus climbed to 43rd
position.
This is the first time since February 2001 that the team,
coached by Hervé Renard, have made it into the top 50. Despite their
extremely narrow defeat in the final, Côte d’Ivoire (15th, up 3) remain
Africa’s highest-ranked team.
Aside from the two finalists, third-placed
Mali (44th, up 25) as well as host nations Gabon (45th, up 46) and
Equatorial Guinea (110th, up 41) have clearly gained considerable
ground.
Changes
are also to be seen in the top ten, with Germany (2nd, up 1) bumping the
Netherlands out of second place to take up position behind Spain, and
Portugal (6th, up 1) and Italy (8th, up 1) also making some headway.
Denmark have moved into the top ten (10th, up 1), pushing Argentina down
to 11th position.
All of
these changes in ranking are due to the devaluation of matches from
previous years as no top-ten team has played a match in the last month.
The balance of power between the confederations remains relatively
unchanged: UEFA has 27 teams in the top 50 (down 1), CONMEBOL has 9, CAF
6, CONCACAF 4 (up 1), the AFC 4 and the OFC 0.
The
results of 51 international matches have been taken into account in
compiling the current edition of the ranking, of which 32 took place as
part of the Africa Cup of Nations and 19 were friendly matches.
Management summary
• Leader Spain (uchanged)
• Moves into top ten Denmark (10th, up 1)
• Moves out of top ten Argentina (11th, down 1)
• Matches played in total 51
• Most matches played Côte d’Ivoire, Zambia (8 matches each)
• Biggest move by points Gabon (up 230 points)
• Biggest move by ranks Gabon (up 46 ranks)
• Biggest drop by points Egypt (down 153 points)
• Biggest drop by ranks Egypt, Senegal (down 25 ranks each)
• Newly ranked teams none
• Teams that are no longer ranked none
• Inactive teams (not ranked) none
The next FIFA/Coca-Cola Ranking will be published on 7 March 2012, one week earlier than originally planned.
Ranking as of 15 February 2012
Rank Team +/- Ranks Points +/- Points
Jan-Feb 12 Feb 12 Jan-Feb 12
1 Spain
0 1566 +2
2 Germany
+1 1369 +24
3 Netherlands
-1 1359 -6
4 Uruguay
0 1317 +8
5 England
0 1179 +6
6 Portugal
+1 1155 +55
7 Brazil
-1 1152 +9
8 Italy
+1 1115 +33
9 Croatia
-1 1101 +10
10 Denmark
+1 1090 +58
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