Cape Verde football team: New African power

Republic of Cabo Verde, otherwise known as Cape Verde made emphatic statement on the monthly World ranking of FIFA in March as they dethroned Cote d’Ivoire to claim the number one position in Africa. 

The West African Island country with a population of 525,000 is number 31 in the world after climbing two steps from its February’s ranking. Cape Verde edged the Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire to the second position in Africa. 

The Elephants lost eight steps on the new ranking released early Thursday by FIFA to moved down to number 36th in the world. 

Nigeria’s Super Eagles don’t make much impact on the new ranking but only move a step from number 63rd to 62nd in March. On the continent, the Eagles are on number 11th from number 12th of last month. 
In the third position in Africa are Algeria who are number 37th in the world. Ghana are fourth on the continent and are on number 41st in the world. 

In the fifth position are Tunisia (47th in the world), Senegal are on number 6th in Africa and 48th in the world. 

In the seventh position are the Pharaohs of Egypt (53rd in the world), while Congo DR (58th), Congo (59th) and Cameroon (61st) completed the African Top 10 in that order. 

Surprisingly, Guinea who won the 2016 African Nations Championship (CHAN) last month were in distance 12th in Africa and 65th in the world. Bafana Bafana of South Africa are on number 14th in Africa and 70th in the world. 

Meanwhile, the March edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking was marked by few changes in the top 50, with most teams yet to play in 2016. Only 14 ‘A’ matches were taken into account for March, all of which were international friendlies. The total number of games played in 2016 currently stands at 58. 

FIFA.com reports that at the table’s summit Belgium continue to dominate, while Argentina, Spain, Germany and Chile stay closely pressed to the leaders. Four-time world champions Italy (14, plus 1) meanwhile, recorded the only positive movement in the top 20 this month. Further down the table, Poland gained the most ground of the top 50 teams, climbing three places (31, plus 3) while Serbia (50, plus 1) re-entered the top 50 at Norway’s expense (51, minus 1). 

While no team reached its best ever position in the March ranking, a few teams successfully held onto their best ever positions, namely: Belgium (1), Chile (5), Austria (10), Hungary (19) and Kyrgyzstan (105).

The most impressive movers for March were Venezuela and Armenia. The South Americans climbed 6 places and gained 57 points to rise to 75th position, thanks to an impressive 1-0 victory over Costa Rica in Barinas on 2 February. Armenia, meanwhile, enjoyed the biggest climb of the month (116, up 7). Closely chasing Armenia and Venezuela’s success were Israel (67, plus 6), Kazakhstan (125, plus 6) and Guyana (156, plus 6).

There were no shifts in the regional composition of the Top 50 for March and the distribution of the top 50 remains: UEFA (31), CONMEBOL (8), CAF (6), CONCACAF (4), AFC (1) and OFC (0).

There were no shifts in the regional composition of the Top 50 for March and the distribution of the top 50 remains: UEFA (31), CONMEBOL (8), CAF (6), CONCACAF (4), AFC (1) and OFC (0). 

Belgium, Argentina, Mexico, Iran and New Zealand held their positions at the top of their respective confederations, with the only change in leadership at the confederation level this month taking place in CAF. Cape Verde Islands snatched the first place from Côte d’Ivoire to become Africa’s new number one.

The next FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking will be published on 7 April 2016.