The national football team (Amavubi) has moved up by 8 places from 127th to 119th in the latest FIFA world rankings that were released on Thursday morning at FIFA headquarters in Zurich. Also, last month, Rwanda improved by one position from 128th to 127th.

The improvement follows Rwanda’s qualification for the third round qualifier of the 2018 African Nations Championship (CHAN) after eliminating Tanzania on 1-1 goals aggregate.

Early this week, Amavubi also beat Sudan 2-1 in a friendly game.

"We see this as proof of our hard work. Moving up into the top 100 is our short term target,” Amavubi head coach Antoine Hey said.

Within the region, Uganda leads in 73rd position, followed by Kenya in 82nd place. Uganda will play against Rwanda on Saturday in the third round qualifier of the 2018 CHAN Qualifiers. The winner between Uganda Cranes and Amavubi will be heading to next year’s continental championship which will be held in Kenya.

Tanzania and Ethiopia are tied in 120th position. Tanzania dropped six places while Ethiopia improved 16 places having knocked out Djibouti in the second round of the CHAN qualifiers.

Globally, Egypt is the top ranked African nation in 25th position followed by DR Congo (28) while Tunisia comes in number three at 31st position.

Brazil have returned to the top of the World Ranking replacing reigning FIFA World Cup champions Germany, who have dropped one place down. Argentina remains in third position, Switzerland (4th, up 1) and Poland (5th, up 1).