African Quartet fly as Gambia struggle in FIFA Rankings

Mali 32nd moving 7 places, while Libya 36th, up 2,Central African Republic 64th, up 7 and South Sudan 197th, up 2. The Gambia just scored 129 position in the world and 39th in Africa after making a total points of257 points, a difference of 6 points from last month’s filings.

According to FIFA.com, results of 54 ‘A’ internationals, all of which were friendlies distributed over all six confederations, were taken into account for the latest edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking.

While the top ten have seen only one change, with Portugal (4th, up 1) swapping places with Uruguay (5th, down 1), there has been a lot more activity in the remainder of the top 20, where Switzerland (20th, up 3) have extended Europe’s predominance as the 14th UEFA team, Mexico (21st, down 3) have fallen below 20th for the first time since March 2012, and Ecuador (17th, up 3) have become one of the top 20 teams in their continued climb from the previous month by moving up a further three places.

The major movers in the top 50 include European sides Slovenia (24th, up 9), Belgium (40th, up 13), and Austria (49th, up 11), whose 2-0 win at home to Turkey has seen them back in the top 50 after one and a half years.

Belgium have brought their three-and-a-half-month stretch out of the top 50 to an end with a 4-2 victory over neighbouring Netherlands, extending the Red Devils’ unbeaten run at home to nine, while Slovenia secured their first victory over Romania in six years, winning 4-3.