Ghana jump to 25th in World ranking

Ghana jumped a whopping 23 spots in FIFA's redesigned world soccer rankings to a best-ever 25th place

Brazil remained No. 1 with World Cup champion Italy moving up to No. 2 in the rankings released Wednesday.


The new system takes into account games played over the last four years instead of the last eight. It also changes the weighting system, with more importance given to World Cup games vs. friendly games. Regional strength is also considered, as are opponents, goals scored and conceded, and home or away venues.


Ghana, which reached the second round, took the big jump going from 48 to 25 on the back of an impressive performance at the World Cup where the Black Stars beat former number two, the Czech Republic and the United States - then ranked as fourth best side.


No African side could secure a place in the top ten though Nigeria, Cameroon and the Ivory Coast are among the top 20 sides.

Argentina are third with France and England all in pursuit.


The new FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking takes a different look at African football and places teams such as Nigeria and Cameroon, who only narrowly failed to qualify for the World Cup, just outside the Top Ten. As expected, the teams from North America and Asia whom fortune did not favour at the World Cup (Mexico, USA, Iran, Japan and Korea Republic) have slipped down the ranking.


Ivory Coast, who also secured World Cup qualification are third with Guinea taking the fourth spot.


Complete Ranking: http://www.fifa.com/en/mens/statistics/index.html