Namibia’s Brave Warriors climbed one position to 113 in the world according to the monthly FIFA ranking which were released on December 16. Namibia were not active during the period under review, with their last match being their 1-0 defeat to Zambia on October 25. That was Namibia’s first defeat of 2009, as they won one and drew four other matches during the year. Namibia are ranked 30th in Africa and eighth in the SADC region.
Mozambique were the top ranked nation in the SADC region with a world ranking of 72 and an African ranking of 14.
Zambia (84 in the world and 17 in Africa) were the second ranked SADC nation, followed by South Africa (85 in the world and 18 in Africa), Angola (95 in the world and 20 in Africa) and Malawi (99 in the world and 23 in Africa).
The next SADC nations were DR Congo (107 in the world and 27 in Africa), Zimbabwe (109 in the world and 29 in Africa) and Namibia.
In Africa, Cameroon remained the top ranked nation with a world ranking of 11, followed by the Ivory Coast with a world ranking of 16 and Nigeria (22 in the world).
They were followed by Egypt (24 in the world), Algeria (26), Ghana (34), Mali (47), Gabon (48), Burkina Faso (49) and Tunisia (53).
Ethiopia were the biggest climbers in Africa, climbing nine positions to 122 in the world. They were followed by Rwanda, up eight positions to 102 in the world, Kenya, up seven positions to 98 in the world and Zambia, up six positions to 84 in the world.
The biggest losers in Africa were Eritrea who dropped 12 positions to 163 in the world.
The top ten nations in the world remained unchanged. Spain was ranked first, followed by Brazil, the Netherlands, Italy and Portugal. They were followed by Germany, France, Argentina, England and Croatia.