The COSAFA Cup 2015 was a great triumph on many levels for a number of sides from the Southern African region, not least as a boost to their FIFA World Rankings.

As the competition matches were classed as ‘A’ internationals by FIFA, these therefore counted towards rankings points and gave some nations the opportunity to shoot up the global list.

Champions Namibia move up nine places in the month from number 114 to 105, climbing six places in the CAF list too as well to 27.

Swaziland too saw a big jump in their ranking, from 176 to 162, a move up of 14 places on the global list.

But the big winners from the COSAFA Cup were Madagascar, who climbed a staggering 37 places on the back of their third-place finish at the tournament in South Africa.

The team played six matches in all and beat highly-ranked west African guests Ghana in the quarterfinals, which provided a significant boost to their rankings tally.

The islanders also moved up 12 places on the CAF list to number 31 on the continent.

Mozambique (up five places), Malawi (two), Zimbabwe (four), Mauritius (nine) and Seychelles (two) were other sides who showed a positive climb following the COSAFA Cup.

But there were some big names who went the opposite way, showing the importance of every match in the competition.

South Africa, on the back of two penalties defeats, dropped 10 places to number 69, while Ghana fell eight places, the same as Zambia.

But the worst faller from the competition was east African guest nation Tanzania, whose poor form saw them plummet 20 places to number 127 on the list.

		PRE-COSAFA CUP			POST-COSAFA CUP
		WORLD	AFRICA		WORLD	AFRICA
Ghana		26	3		34	4
South Africa		59	15		69	17
Zambia		60	16		68	16
Mozambique		86	22		81	20
Malawi		97	27		95	25
Botswana		104	29		111	30
Tanzania		107	30		127	37
Namibia		114	33		105	27
Lesotho		121	36		122	35
Zimbabwe		123	38		119	33
Madagascar		150	43		113	31
Swaziland		176	46		162	44
Mauritius		185	47		176	46
Seychelles		189	49		187	47