The Africa Cup of Nations has had a major impact on the first FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking of the year. While Spain continue to occupy top spot ahead of Brazil and the Netherlands, Egypt managed to climb 14 places to tenth place after they successfully defended their title at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations in Angola.

This is not only Egypt’s highest-ever position in the ranking, but also the second-highest of any African team since the introduction of the ranking. They have only been bettered by Nigeria, who reached fifth place in April 1994. Other African teams also benefited from their performances in Angola. In the upper echelons of the ranking, semi-finalists Nigeria (15th, up 7) and finalists Ghana (27th, up 7) made considerable strides. Further down the ranking, Zambia (73rd, up 11) and Malawi (82nd, up 17) also made good progress.




Ahead of the FIFA World Cup™ in South Africa, an analysis of the strengths of each of the eight groups will doubtless prove interesting. In general, it is noteworthy that Group G is the only one to have two teams from the top ten (Brazil and Portugal), while Italy are the only representatives from the top 20 in Group F. Bearing in mind that only two teams from each group will go on to the round of 16, the “tightness” of the groups and the gap between the second and third team could prove particularly significant. With this in mind, two groups promise to be particularly exciting: there are very few points separating Mexico and Uruguay in Group A and Chile and Switzerland in Group H.



A total of 82 international “A” matches were taken into account for this edition of the ranking, 15 of which were played in 2009 (total of 849 “A” matches played in 2009). In addition to the 29 matches played in the Africa Cup of Nations, 11 continental qualifying matches and 42 friendlies were played.



Here's the RANK as its shown on FIFA website


Egypt is number 10


RankingTeamPts
Feb 10
+/- Ranking
Dec 09
+/- Pts
Dec 09
1Spain Spain16270Equal0
2Brazil Brazil15680Equal0
3Netherlands Netherlands12880Equal0
4Italy Italy12090Equal0
5Portugal Portugal11760Equal0
6Germany Germany11730Equal0
7France France11170Equal0
8Argentina Argentina10820Equal-3
9England England10760Equal0
10Egypt Egypt106914Up237
11Croatia Croatia1053-1Down11
12Greece Greece10301Up14
13Russia Russia1026-1Down0
14USA USA9630Equal-17
15Nigeria Nigeria9567Up108
16Chile Chile955-1Down19
17Mexico Mexico9470Equal16
18Switzerland Switzerland9240Equal0
19Serbia Serbia9160Equal0
20Cameroon Cameroon914-9Down-121
21Uruguay Uruguay909-1Down0
22Côte d'Ivoire Côte d'Ivoire865-6Down-69
23Australia Australia857-2Down-6
24Ukraine Ukraine848-2Down0
25Czech Republic Czech Republic8280Equal0
26Denmark Denmark8272Up7
27Ghana Ghana8237Up76
27Israel Israel823-1Down0
29Paraguay Paraguay8060Equal0
30Bulgaria Bulgaria8010Equal0
31Algeria Algeria784-5Down-39
32Norway Norway7720Equal12
33Slovenia Slovenia767-2Down0
34Honduras Honduras7593Up21
35Ecuador Ecuador7532Up15
36Slovakia Slovakia752-3Down0
37Republic of Ireland Republic of Ireland746-2Down0
38Romania Romania745-2Down0
39Colombia Colombia7360Equal0
40Japan Japan7293Up20
40Northern Ireland Northern Ireland7290Equal0
42Turkey Turkey728-1Down0
43Sweden Sweden727-1Down6
44Gabon Gabon7064Up46
45Costa Rica Costa Rica699-1Down-2
46Scotland Scotland6650Equal0
47Venezuela Venezuela6463Up0
48Bosnia-Herzegovina Bosnia-Herzegovina6453Up3
49Korea Republic Korea Republic6343Up9
49Latvia Latvia634-4Down-43