FIFA Ranking: Black Stars rise four places to 47th

Two wins for the Black Stars in the month of November have propelled the senior national team to the 47th position in the latest FIFA/Coca-Cola Ranking released on 28 November 2019.

The men’s senior national team recorded a 2-0 victory against South Africa and 1-0 win against São Tomé and Principe lifting them to the top of Group C in the African Cup of Nations qualifiers and points garnered over the period secured a break into the first 50 countries globally.

The winning streak within the month also ensured that the Black Stars rose to occupy the 6th position in Africa behind Senegal, Tunisia, Nigeria, Algeria and Morocco respectively.

There was no change in the global top five rankings as Belgium continues to enjoy their position at the zenith followed by France, Brazil, England, and Uruguay respectively.

There was only one change in the top ten, with Croatia (6th, up 1) climbing for the second successive edition at the expense of Portugal (7th, down 1). There are, however, more significant changes further down the table, with Italy (13th, up 2), Poland (19th, up 2), Serbia (29th, up 4) and Nigeria (31st, up 4) pushing their way upwards.

The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ qualifiers in Asia have also made an impression. Myanmar (136th, up 11), for example, are the only team to have advanced more than 10 positions, having done so thanks to impressive wins over Nepal (170th, down 3), Tajikistan (121st, down 5) and Mongolia (190th, down 4). Kuwait (147th, up 9) also made a substantial jump on the back of their fine results in the Qatar 2022 preliminaries.

Yet perhaps the most significant success story of this edition is Venezuela (25th, up 1). While their rise might be more modest than others, La Vinotinto – due largely to a recent friendly victory over Japan (28th, unchanged) – have now ascended to their highest position since the Ranking was introduced in 1993.