Black Stars move up two places in FIFA ranking

Black Stars have moved two places up to 45th place in the latest FIFA rankings released on Thursday in the first edition of the global ladder since a new formula took effect.

Ghana also moved up two places up to fourth place in the Africa rankings despite failing to play at the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals.

Tunisia's Carthage Eagles are African's highest ranked nation followed by Senegal and Congo DR.

France top the world rankings while Belgium ranks second and Brazil, who dropped one position, are third.

In other highlights from the August rankings, Russia made the biggest move after climbing 21 positions to place 49th in the world rankings, while Egypt dropped the most, after losing 20 positions.

The new formula, which was approved by the FIFA Council in June after a lengthy period of testing, relies on adding/subtracting points won or lost for a game to/from the previous point totals rather than averaging game points over a given time period as in the previous version of the Ranking.

The changes, of which there are several, include the fact that inactive teams now preserve their point totals, with no devaluation of older games.

Points are dropped, however, from losing or drawing against weaker opposition, with the only exception to this rule matches in knockout rounds of major competitions such as the FIFA World Cup.