Bafana Bafana woes ensure‚ Belgian footballers make history

Belgium tops the FIFA World Ranking for the first time in history. The Red Devils‚ as they are known‚ have jumped two places on the November edition to replace previous leaders Argentina (3rd‚ down 2) and world champions Germany (2nd‚ unchanged).

South Africa’s Bafana Bafana‚ which lost 2-0 to Angola in a CHAN qualifier in Johannesburg last month‚ slipped two places‚ to be ranked at 75th.

The biggest climbers in the top ten are Chile (5th‚ up 4)‚ while England (9th‚ up 1) and Austria (10th‚ up 1) have each made slight progress.

FIFA announced on its website that this is the first time that Belgium‚ Chile and Austria have ever reached such heights on the global ladder.

Six teams have leapt by ten places or more in the top 50 this month — Turkey (18th‚ up 19)‚ Bosnia and Herzegovina (20th‚ up 10)‚ Ecuador (21st‚ up 10)‚ Republic of Ireland (42nd‚ up 12)‚ Paraguay (47th‚ up 14)‚ and Serbia (49th‚ up 14).

Four teams have improved their ranking by over 30 places: Chad (136th‚ up 39)‚ Cyprus (76th‚ up 38)‚ Sao Tome e Principe (157th‚ up 36) and Turkmenistan (121st‚ up 34).

The composition of the top 50 for November 2015 shows little change‚ with the AFC gaining two teams through Korea Republic (48th‚ up 5) and Japan (50th‚ up 5) and Africa losing two‚ Cameroon and Congo each having dropped three places to 51st and 52nd respectively.

The other confederations have the same number of teams as last month‚ with the regional composition of the top 50 now looking as follows: UEFA: 31; CONMEBOL: 7; CAF: 6; CONCACAF: 3; AFC: 3; OFC: 0.

A total of 172 international ‘A’ matches have been taken into account in the November edition of the FIFA World Ranking‚ bringing the total number of matches evaluated so far this year to 840. Qualifiers for UEFA EURO 2016 (50 matches) and the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ (66 matches) played a significant role in some of the major changes to this month’s instalment.