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03.09.2009 Football News

Ghana Up In FIFA Rankings

03.09.2009 LISTEN
By Daily Guide

Impressive wins against Mali and Sudan in the World Cup/African Nations Cup qualifiers and the 4-1 win over Zambia in a recent International friendly match has pushed Ghana to the 32nd position in the latest FIFA/Coca-Cola World Rankings.

The Black Stars moved from the 35th position to the 32nd position and are jointly placed with Egypt, the current African champions.

It therefore puts the Stars in third position on the African continent.

The Black Stars also share the third position with Egypt on the African standings as both countries have the same 786 points; with Ghana adding 14 more points to its previous tally.

Cote d'lvoire was the best ranked country in Africa; placing 20th on the World rankings, followed by Cameroon at the 29th position.

Nigeria followed Ghana and Egypt as they lie 34th on the table, followed by surprise package Gabon, who presently lead their group in the on-going World Cup/African Cup of Nations qualifiers ahead of Cameroon, Togo and Morocco; with the Azingo Nationale placing 35th on the table.

Algeria also improved so well in the rankings as they placed 44th, whilst Tunisia took the 50th position on the table.

The September edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking saw Brazil ranked first, ahead of Spain and the Netherlands.

World champions Italy, who placed (4th, up 1) have also made inroads and are sharing the 4th position with Germany.

Croatia (9th, up 1) and France (10th, down 1) have also traded places.

Other teams to have seen off the challenge of higher-ranked teams to make progress in the rankings include Norway (43rd, up 7) and Chile (21st, up 5). Congo (79th, up 10), Angola (92nd, up 10) and Kyrgyzstan (143rd, up 17) have also taken significant leaps in the rankings. A total of eight 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers and 62 friendly matches were played last month, bringing the total number of “A” International matches played so far in 2009 to 509.

By Charles Nixon Yeboah

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