South Africa have moved up eight places to number 58 in the latest FIFA World Rankings released on Thursday, their highest position since 2015 ad they head the list of COSAFA sides.
Bafana Bafana have also climbed into to 10th in Africa on the back of their third-place finish at the recent Africa Cup of Nations finals in the Ivory Coast.
Hugo Broos’ side would have scored handy points for their 2-0 last-16 victory over Morocco, who remain the top-ranked side on the continent.
But their only other outright win in seven matches at the finals was a 4-0 success against neighbours Namibia.
They lost their opener to Mali, before draws with Cape Verde, Nigeria and DR Congo in the knockout rounds, which all went to penalty shoot-outs.
Zambia fell three places to number 87 after their first round exit in the ivory Coast, but Angola have shot up 24 places to number 93 on the back of their quarterfinal showing.
That makes them the highest climbers of any team in the world and reward for an excellent Cup of Nations tournament.
Namibia have also gone up eight places, boosted by their superb 1-0 win over Tunisia in the pool stages. They also had a draw with Mali in their final to reach the last-16, where they lost to Angola.
Mozambique were also at those finals and go up a single place to number 110.
The Ivory Coast’s tournament win moves them up to number 39 in the world and fifth in Africa, while the top four teams are Morocco, Senegal, Nigeria and Egypt. Tunisia drop from third to sixth on the continent following their first round exit, while Algeria, Mali, Cameroon and South Africa make up the erst of the top 10.
Ghana have dropped to number 13 on the continent and 67th in the world, their lowest placing for some 20 years.
Guinea-Bissau had the biggest fall of 15 places to number 118, while there was also a sharp drop for the north African duo of Algeria and Tunisia, who both fell 13 places.
COSAFA TEAMS’ WORLD RANKING
58 – South Africa
87 – Zambia
93 – Angola
107 – Namibia
109 – Madagascar
110 – Mozambique
121 – Comoros
122 – Malawi
124 – Zimbabwe
146 – Botswana
148 – Lesotho
149 – Eswatini
177 – Mauritius
199 – Seychelles
