Bafana continue to climb up rankings

Bafana Bafana have continued the climb on the Fifa world rankings.

On the latest rankings released on Wednesday, the Senior Men’s National team has jumped six places to 52 (previously they were on 58). Bafana Bafana’s rise comes at the back of an unbeaten run of four matches – three victories and a draw. South Africa started with a 2-1 win over France in the 2010 Fifa World Cup in June this year.

This was followed by a one nil victory over Ghana in a friendly international match in August. South Africa defeated Niger two-nil to kick start the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, before the goalless draw against Sierra Leone in Freetown two weeks ago in another Afcon qualifier.

Coach Pitso Mosimane was in charge of the last three matches.

“We are delighted with the latest turn of events, this shows that we are doing something right. We cannot afford to rest on our laurels though, the rise of Bafana Bafana on the Fifa rankings is encouragement enough for us to continue working hard. But we must not lose sight of our vision, to be one of the best on the continent.

"And for us to achieve that, which is part of our Vision 2014, we have to do well in the qualifiers and also perform remarkably in the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations as well as the 2014 Fifa World Cup tournaments. We are greatly encouraged by this achievement and will continue working hard to ensure that we improve,” said Mosimane.

Spain is still number one in the world. Making up the top five are the Netherlands, Brazil, Germany and Argentina.

Bafana Bafana has dropped one place down on the continental rankings – and they are out of the top ten. They are eleventh, after being overtaken by Guinea who leaped 34 places to occupy 10th position.

Egypt is still top of the list followed by Ghana, Ivory Coast, Algeria, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Gabon and Tunisia in ninth place.

The next Fifa rankings will be released 17 November – on the day when South Africa hosts the USA in Cape Town.

Top rankings:

1. Spain (1); 2. Netherlands (2); 3. Brazil (4); 4. Germany (3); 5. Argentina (5); 6. England (6); 7. Uruguay (7); 8. Portugal (8); 9. Croatia (11); 10. Russia (25); 11. Egypt (9); 12. Greece (12); 13. Norway (14); 14. Chile (10); 15. Slovenia (19); 16. Italy (13); 17. Ghana (20); 18. France (27); 19. Ivory Coast (23); 20. Slovakia (16); 52 South Africa (58).