Bafana slip again in rankings

03 Oct 2012 12:09:00 PM

South Africa continue their slide down the Fifa World Rankings

Bafana Bafana have slipped another two places in the latest Fifa World Rankings released on Wednesday.

South Africa are now ranked at number 76 in the world, double their recent high of number 38 achieved in May 2011.

It is a graphic display of the steady decline of the national side over the past 16 months which led to their failure to qualify for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.

Although many people do not put much store into the Fifa rankings, they are important as they are used to create seedings for international tournaments, and also can play a role in deciding whether players receive a work permit or not in some European countries.

Bafana fell again following their 1-0 friendly loss against Brazil last month, the 2-0 home success over lowly Mozambique not enough to push them higher up.

It will be a major focus of coach Gordon Igesund to push up the rankings in the next 12 or so months, with Safa having stated they would like to see Bafana in the top four in Africa and the top 20 in the world.

That remains a long-term goal, though a good Nations Cup on home soil next year would give that a significant boost.

Cote d’Ivoire remain the top-ranked African side, followed by Algeria, Mali, Ghana and Egypt.

In the global list, Spain top the rankings followed by Germany, Portugal, Argentina, England, Netherlands, Uruguay, Italy, Colombia and Greece.

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