World Cup Champion France Tops FIFA Rankings, Absent Ghana On The Rise

LAGOS AUGUST 17TH (NEWSRANGERS)-World Cup champion France is No. 1 in the FIFA rankings for the first time in 16 years.
Germany, the previous World Cup champion, dropped from first to 15th on Thursday after its elimination in the group stage. The U.S., which did not qualify for the World Cup, advanced three spots to No. 22.
France beat Croatia 4-2 last month for its second World Cup title, and jumped six places to reclaim the top spot it last held in 2002. Belgium, which lost to France in the semifinals, moved up one place to second.
Brazil, beaten by Belgium in the quarterfinals, fell to third while Croatia climbed 16 places to fourth to equal its best ranking from five years ago. World Cup quarterfinalist Uruguay jumped nine spots to fifth and semifinalist England moved to sixth from 12th.
Host Russia began the tournament as the lowest-ranked of the 32 teams. But an unexpected run to the quarterfinals resulted in a leap of 21 places to 49th.
Ghana who was absent in the World cup moved up by two places on the first edition of the World Fifa Ranking after the summer World Cup.
It is the fourth successive upward step for the Black Stars, who missed the global fiesta after a disastrous qualifying campaign.
The new table sees Ghana move from 47th to the 45th spot, with a leap in total accumulated points from 624 to 1424.
Placed 50th in August last year, Kwesi Appiah’s outfit now find themselves between the Czech Republic (44) and Morocco (46) on the ladder.
On continental level, Ghana have moved up by two places from sixth to fourth, trailing Tunisia and Senegal who are tied as Africa’s No.1 and jointly occupying the 24th position on the world table. Congo DR (37) sit third on the continent.
Morocco, Cameroon (47), Nigeria (49), Burkina Faso (52) and Mali (63) make up Africa’s top 10.

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