Cape Town, South Africa - South Africa has moved up one place in the latest FIFA World Rankings released on Wednesday. The country is now occupying the 46th position in the world, and ninth on the continent. In April 2010, Bafana Bafana was on the 90th spot in the world and has seen a dramatic rise since then. Ghana still tops the African rankings, followed by Cote d'Ivoire, Egypt, Nigeria and Burkina Faso. The top ten is completed by Cameroon, Guinea, Tunisia and Algeria.

In the global rankings, World Champion Spain is in the lead, followed by Netherlands, Germany, Argentina and Brazil in the top five.

The rest of the top ten is completed by England, Uruguay, Croatia, Portugal and Greece.

South African Football Association Acting Chief Executive Officer Pinky Lehoko has welcomed the team’s achievement.

“We are pleased with the continuous improvement of our team’s ranking in the world. We will continue to fully support Bafana Bafana in view of the big challenge ahead of us in the form qualifying for next year’s AFCON (Africa Cup of Nations) and the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

'We will remain vigilant and ensure that we discard any form of complacency as we pursue our objective to reclaim our rightful status in world football,” said Lehoko.

Pana 10/03/2011