• Brazil maintain first spot, Argentina second.
Qatar 2022 world Cup semifinalist, Morocco, is Africa’s highest ranked team in the December listings released by FIFA yesterday.
Morocco is ranked 11th in the world rankings, thanks to their superb performance in the 2022 World Cup, where they reached the tournament’s semis, while Nigeria dropped three places to 35th, three spots below its former 32.
These world rankings take cognisance of match results from the past five years and weight matches according to importance. For example, a World Cup match is worth four times as much as a friendly.
The December listing is Morocco’s second highest ranking in history, as they were ranked 10th in the FIFA World Rankings in April 1998.
The Atlas Lions provided the most improbable story of this year’s World Cup, missing out on a third-place finish at the World Cup after losing 2-1 to Croatia in the bronze medal contest.
Coming behind Morocco among African teams are Senegal, rated 19th, Tunisia at 30th is Africa’s third best team, while 33rd-rated Cameroun is fifth. Nigeria is number five in Africa.
Meanwhile, despite not making the quarterfinals in Qatar, Brazil remained at the top of the world ranking, ahead of world champions, Argentina, France, and Belgium respectively.
Spain, who placed seventh on the previous list, dropped three places and came in at 10th, while Croatia jumped to seventh place.
In total, seven teams have risen by more than 10 places in the Ranking since December 2021.
On the back of their respective runs to the last four of the World Cup, Croatia (7th, plus 5) and Morocco (11th, plus 11) have both made spectacular jumps up the Ranking. The Atlas Lions are the year’s highest climbers in fact, having collected no fewer than 142 points over the last 12 months.
Similarly, Australia (27th, plus 11) and Cameroun (33rd, plus 10) have World Cup performances to thank for their climbs of 11 and 10 places respectively, while Saudi Arabia (49th, plus 2), who beat Argentina in the group phase in Qatar move into the top 50, as do Burkina Faso (50th, plus 4).
The next FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking will be published on April 6, 2023.
THEGUARDIAN
