African teams gain ground

MEXICO BACK IN THE TOP TEN

American and African teams are the noteworthy winners in the first FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking in the New Year, the main reason for this being that half of the matches that have been taken into account were those played in the 1996 CONCACAF Gold Cup and the 1996 African Cup of Nations.

Brazil, represented by their U-23 squad, remained indomitable right into the final of the Gold Cup and therefore have comfortably clung on to their habitual hold of the top spot. Mexico (8th, up 4) shot back into the top ten when they swept to victory in the final. By making it to the semifinals the USA were propelled into their best placing (15th, up 4) since the FIFA/Coca- Cola World Ranking was introduced.

Major moves were also made by the African squads who qualified for the African Cup of Nations with Ghana (19th, up 10) stealing the limelight from their African rivals. South Africa, who hosted the championships, have taken the ranking ladder by storm (29th, up 11) and Gabon (45th, up 22) have put in their first appearance to date among the top fifty. There were plenty of high-flyers in the other confederations too: Venezuela (112nd, up 15), Lebanon (113th, up 21) and Guatemala (123rd, up 22) have all made substantial strides.

Gabon, Saudi Arabia (43rd, up 11) and Trinidad & Tobago (46th, up 11) are all newcomers in the top fifty at the expense of Senegal (52nd, down 5), Iceland (53rd, down 3) and Honduras (55th, down 6). This means that the regional composition of the top fifty has undergone only a slight change: Europe (28, down 1), Africa (11), CONMEBOL (5), CONCACAF (3), Asia (3, up 1).

- The next edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking will appear on 21 February 1996.

RANKING AS OF 24 JANUARY 1996
RANK TEAM POINTS
JAN. '96		 RANK
END '95		 CHANGE
Dec. '95 - Jan. '96
1 Brazil 69.61 1 0
2 Germany 61.58 2 0
3 Italy 60.87 3 0
4 Spain 59.38 4 0
5 Russia 58.59 5 0
6 Netherlands 57.86 6 0
7 Argentina 57.06 7 0
8 Mexico 55.97 12 +4
9 Norway 55.43 10 +1
10 Denmark 55.07 9 -1
11 Romania 54.80 11 0
12 Sweden 54.32 13 +1
13 France 54.19 8 -5
14 Czech Republic 53.61 14 0
15 USA 53.52 19 +4
16 Portugal 53.09 16 0
17 Colombia 52.92 15 -2
18 Bulgaria 52.74 17 -1
19 Ghana 51.94 29 +10
20 Switzerland 51.61 18 -2
RANK TEAM POINTS
JAN. '96		 RANK
END '95		 CHANGE
Dec. '95 - Jan. '96
21 Cote d'Ivoire 50.87 20 -1
22 Egypt 50.25 23 +1
23 Zambia 49.20 25 +2
24 England 48.57 21 -3
25 Belgium 47.85 24 -1
26 Scotland 47.49 26 0
27 Ireland Republic 46.74 28 +1
28 Turkey 46.14 30 +2
29 South Africa 45.80 40 +11
30 Japan 45.68 31 +1
31 Tunisia 45.65 22 -9
32 Cameroon 45.19 37 +5
33 Morocco 44.41 38 +5
34 Uruguay 44.19 32 -2
35 Poland 43.82 33 -2
36 Slovakia 43.71 35 -1
37 Greece 43.64 34 -3
38 Nigeria 43.01 27 -11
39 Chile 42.23 36 -3
40 Austria 40.95 39 -1
RANK TEAM POINTS
JAN. '96		 RANK
END '95		 CHANGE
Dec. '95 - Jan. '96
41 Croatia 40.36 41 0
42 Israel 40.15 42 0
43 Saudi Arabia 40.08 54 +11
44 Algeria 39.60 48 +4
45 Gabon 39.30 67 +22
46 Trinidad & Tobago 38.91 57 +11
47 Lithuania 38.81 43 -4
48 Northern Ireland 38.42 45 -3
49 Korea Republic 38.28 46 -3
50 Finland 38.26 44 -6
51 Sierra Leone 38.21 58 +7
52 Senegal 37.82 47 -5
53 Iceland 37.74 50 -3
54 Australia 37.46 51 -3
55 Honduras 37.38 49 -6
56 Bolivia 37.34 53 -3
57 Ecuador 36.64 55 -2
58 Jamaica 36.39 56 -2
59 Mali 36.11 52 -7
60 Latvia 35.43 60 0
RANK TEAM POINTS
JAN. '96		 RANK
END '95		 CHANGE
Dec. '95 - Jan. '96
61 Canada 35.12 65 +4
62 Zimbabwe 33.83 59 -3
63 Wales 33.64 61 -2
64 Hungary 33.47 62 -2
65 Paraguay 32.30 64 -1
66 China PR 32.03 66 0
67 Peru 31.58 69 +2
68 Mozambique 30.81 76 +8
69 Ukraine 30.30 71 +2
70 Slovenia 30.29 71 +1
71 Zaire 30.03 68 -3
72 Thailand 29.86 77 +5
73 El Salvador 29.84 82 +9
74 Guinea 29.76 63 -11
75 Cyprus 29.17 73 -2
76 Tanzania 29.16 70 -6
77 Uganda 28.72 74 -3
78 United Arab Emirates 28.07 75 -3
79 Georgia 26.98 79 0
80 Costa Rica 26.88 78 -2
RANK TEAM POINTS
JAN. '96		 RANK
END '95		 CHANGE
Dec. '95 - Jan. '96
81 Yugoslavia 26.11 81 0
82 Angola 26.06 80 -2
83 Liberia 25.26 87 +4
84 Qatar 24.52 83 -1
85 Kuwait 24.32 84 -1
86 Belarus 23.59 88 +2
87 Mauritania 23.24 85 -2
88 Sudan 22.76 86 -2
89 Malta 22.41 90 +1
90 Albania 21.76 91 +1
91 Macedonia 21.57 94 +3
92 St. Vincent / Grenadines 21.22 95 +3
93 Cuba 21.13 96 +3
94 Niger 20.54 93 -1
95 Uzbekistan 20.49 97 +2
96 Singapore 20.39 104 +8
97 Oman 20.25 98 +1
98 Bahrain 20.17 99 +1
99 Luxemburg 20.06 100 +1
100 Kenya 19.57 107 +7
RANK TEAM POINTS
JAN. '96		 RANK
END '95		 CHANGE
Dec. '95 - Jan. '96
101 Togo 19.12 92 -9
102 New Zealand 18.88 102 0
103 Malawi 18.56 89 -14
104 Barbados 18.52 103 -1
105 Burkina Faso 18.45 101 -4
106 Ethiopia 18.09 105 -1
107 Malaysia 17.59 106 -1
108 Moldova 17.15 109 +1
109 Iraq 16.90 110 +1
110 Hong Kong 16.85 111 +1
111 Iran 16.83 108 -3
112 Venezuela 16.08 127 +15
113 Lebanon 16.02 134 +21
114 Armenia 15.99 113 -1
115 St. Lucia 15.82 114 -1
116 Myanmar 15.60 115 -1
117 Vietnam 15.46 122 +5
118 Gambia 15.16 112 -6
119 Namibia 15.11 116 -3
120 Guinea-Bissau 15.06 118 -2
RANK TEAM POINTS
JAN. '96		 RANK
END '95		 CHANGE
Dec. '95 - Jan. '96
121 Korea DPR 15.01 117 -4
122 Faroe Islands 14.62 120 -2
123 Guatemala 14.59 145 +22
124 India 14.48 121 -3
125 Yemen 12.49 123 -2
126 Neth. Antilles 12.47 125 -1
127 Surinam 12.44 124 -3
128 Panama 12.34 126 -2
129 Congo 12.18 119 -10
130 Puerto Rico 11.72 128 -2
131 Estonia 11.52 129 -2
132 Indonesia 11.44 130 -2
133 Cayman 11.32 131 -2
134 Turkmenistan 11.13 133 -1
135 Sri Lanka 11.07 135 0
136 Madagascar 11.00 132 -4
137 Antigua 10.51 137 0
138 Syria 10.01 136 -2
139 Bangladesh 9.43 138 -1
140 Fiji 9.19 139 -1
RANK TEAM POINTS
JAN. '96		 RANK
END '95		 CHANGE
Dec. '95 - Jan. '96
141 Azerbaijan 9.10 141 0
142 Grenada 9.08 141 -1
143 St. Kitts & Nevis 8.99 150 +7
144 Bermuda 8.96 140 -4
145 Cape Verde Islands 8.82 144 -1
146 Jordan 8.73 143 -3
147 Burundi 8.18 146 -1
148 Nepal 8.04 147 -1
149 Swaziland 7.73 148 -1
150 Lesotho 7.48 149 -1
151 Laos 7.26 152 +1
152 San Marino 7.25 151 -1
153 Haiti 7.02 153 0
154 Mauritius 6.17 154 0
155 Tahiti 5.81 156 +1
156 Liechtenstein 5.75 157 +1
157 Botswana 5.70 155 -2
158 Dominica 5.52 158 0
159 Dominican Republic 5.20 159 0
160 Pakistan 4.58 160 0
RANK TEAM POINTS
JAN. '96		 RANK
END '95		 CHANGE
Dec. '95 - Jan. '96
161 Benin 4.30 161 0
162 Kazakhstan 3.59 163 +1
163 Guyana 2.95 162 -1
164 Tajikistan 2.65 164 0
165 Somalia 2.38 165 0
166 Philippines 2.20 166 0
167 Brunei 1.83 167 0
168 Rwanda 1.81 168 0
169 Maldives Republic 1.36 169 0
170 Solomon Islands 1.17 170 0
171 Aruba 1.00 171 0
172 Kyrgyzstan 0.70 172 0
173 Belize 0.67 173 0
174 Nicaragua 0.55 174 0
175 Libya 0.51 175 0
176 Seychelles 0.45 176 0
177 Djibouti 0.34 177 0
178 Chinese Taipei 0.11 178 0
179 Vanuatu 0.03 179 0
180 Macao 0.00 180 0
Chad 0.00 180 0
Cambodia 0.00 180 0

Note: Teams inactive since 1990 and teams which have not played yet do not appear in the table.

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