Gambia Gains Ten Spots on FIFA Ranking

After a long period of downward movement on the chart, Gambia has moved ten places up in the latest FIFA rankings released by the World Football Governing body on Wednesday.

Gambia is ranked 113th in the world and 30th in Africa. The nation was in the last month [March] ranked 123rd in the world and 35th in Africa with 271 points but with this significant gain in the rankings, it has seen the country scoop 292 points.

The first team in Africa is Cote d’Ivoire who are ranked 15th in the world. Algeria, Mali and nation’s cup winners Zambia occupy the second, third and fourth positions respectively.

The most spectacular progress have been made by Libya and Gabon who gained nine places each to occupy the 46th and 55th position respectively on the world ranking. Surprisingly, Cameroon comes ahead of Senegal who were butted out prematurely from the nation’s cup in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. Senegal is ranked way behind Cameroon in the 77th position.

Twenty-four matches were taken into account for the April edition of the FIFA world ranking, three-quarters of which were played at the AFC Challenge Cup. In the leading pack, the Netherlands (4th, down 2) slipped out of the top three for the first time since June 2010.

Climbers Germany (2nd, up 1) and Uruguay (3rd, up 1) are now the closest challengers to leaders Spain (1st, unchanged). The third-place ranking of La Celeste is the country’s highest ever in its long and successful football history.

Denmark (9th, up 2) are back in the top ten after an absence of one month, the Danish Dynamite’s highest position since August 1997, while Romania (45th, up 8), Libya (46th, up 9), Scotland (48th, up 3) and El Salvador (49th, up 9) have all made it into the top 50.

Alongside Libya and El Salvador, the Philippines (148th, up 8) have achieved their highest-ever position since the introduction of the global ladder, thanks to their excellent performance at the AFC Challenge Cup, where they finished third.

The next FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking will be issued on 09 May 2012.