New African champion Nigeria has moved up 22 places to 32nd position in the world in the latest FIFA Rankings for Feb. 2013, compared with its 52nd position in January. The country has also moved up in Africa, from 9th place in January to 4th place this month, according to the latest rankings quoted by PANA Thursday.
But the second best move in the world is Burkina Faso, the team that lost 0-1 to Nigeria in the final of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) which rounded off in Johannesburg, South Africa 10 Feb.
Burkina Faso, a surprise finalist at the tournament, moved up 37 places - from 92nd in January to 55th in the latest rankings. Only Mauritania did better by moving up 38 places in the world.
In Africa, the 2013 Nations Cup runner-up also leapt from 23rd to 9th position.
Cote d'Ivoire, which was beaten by Nigeria in the quarter-final of the 2013 AFCON, remains the topmost team in Africa and Africa's best-ranked team in the world, where it moved from 14th in January to 12th in the latest rankings.
Ghana, which lost to Mali in the third place match at the 2013 AFCON, moved up seven places from 26th to 19th in the world, and from 4th to 2nd in Africa.
For its part, Mali, the bronze medal winner at the 2013 AFCON, maintained its position in Africa and the world, 3rd and 25th respectively.
Following are the full rankings for Africa:
1 Côte d'Ivoire
2 Ghana
3 Mali
4 Nigeria
5 Algeria
6 Tunisia
7 Zambia
8 Central African Republic
9 Burkina Faso
10 South Africa
11 Sierra Leone
12 Libya
13 Cape Verde Islands
14 Togo
15 Egypt
16 Guinea
17 Morocco
18 Gabon
19 Cameroon
20 Senegal
21 Uganda
22 Congo DR
23 Congo
24 Benin
25 Angola
26 Niger
27 Zimbabwe
28 Sudan
29 Equatorial Guinea
30 Mozambique
31 Malawi
32 Ethiopia
33 Burundi
34 Liberia
35 Namibia
36 Kenya
37 Tanzania
38 Botswana
39 Rwanda
40 São Tomé e Príncipe
41 Chad
42 Gambia
43 Lesotho
44 Mauritania
45 Guinea-Bissau
46 Swaziland
47 Madagascar
48 Mauritius
49 Comoros
50 Eritrea
51 Seychelles
52 South Sudan
53 Somalia
54 Djibouti
Pana 14/02/2013