Rwanda rise in Fifa rankings

Despite last month’s goalless home draw against Algeria in the second and final round of the 2010 World/Africa Nations’ Cup qualifiers, Rwanda has jumped two places on the latest Fifa ranking ladder released on Wednesday. Rwanda has moved from 85th to 83rd in the world and from 22nd to 20th in African rankings. Rivals Algeria are eleven places ahead of Rwanda on 72nd position after falling eight positions while Egypt has fallen six places to 37th position. Zambia is placed on 90th position, a rise of two places. Cecafa champions, Uganda rose one place 68th position hence topping the Cecafa region rankings. Djibouti is the least placed Cecafa member on 185th position. African top team, Cameroon fell three places to 19th position in the world. Spain, who continue to race from one victory to the next and are now unbeaten in 31 matches, are also breaking new ground in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking. With a margin of more than 350 points between themselves and their closest chasers, they are the most dominant leader since the Ranking was first published in 1993. Their nearest rivals are Germany and the Netherlands. Brazil (4th, up 1) and world champions Italy (5th, down 1) swapped places. Argentina’s (6th) qualifying thrashing in La Paz cost them points, but not any places in the ranking, although England (7th, up 2) are hot on their heels. France (10th, up 2) has returned to the top ten at the expense of Portugal. A total of 109 “A” matches (77 FIFA World Cup™ preliminary matches and 32 friendly matches) were taken into account in the latest world ranking. Ends

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Rwanda rise in Fifa rankings