SENEGAL HAVE been rated as Africa’s top rated side after April’s FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking was revealed. Nicknamed the Lions of Teranga, the African nation sit 22nd position. Behind them were Tunisia (26) and Nigeria (32) and Ghana (49). Current African Cup of Nations title holders, Algeria, come in 33rd spot.

Among Senegal’s most high profile players is Sadio Mane of Liverpool, Cheikhou Kouyaté of Crystal Palace and rising star Ismaïla Sarr at Watford.

In the latest edition of the rankings, only two pairs of teams are tied: Cameroon and Bosnia and Herzegovina in 55th place on 1404.87 points; and Cabo Verde and the United Arab Emirates in joint 73rd on 1330.16 points.

With no fewer than 185 games – predominantly qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and the CAF Africa Cup of Nations 2021 – played since the last edition in February, there has been quite a lot of movement in April’s global standings.

While the order of the top six has not changed, with Belgium still dominating ahead of France and Brazil, 7th place is now filled by Italy (7, +3). Like the Azzurri, Denmark (10, +2) won their opening three qualifying games for Qatar 2022 and make a return to the TOP 10.

A little further down, Serbia (25, +5), Nigeria (32, +4), Scotland (44, +4) and Ghana (49, +3) all gained ground in the Top 50, which Iceland slipped out of (52, -6). However, to find the biggest mover, you have to look outside the Top 100. That distinction goes to Guinea-Bissau (108, +11), with Namibia (111, +10) almost matching them with a jump of ten places.

This edition’s most improved side in terms of points, Armenia (90,  +9), gained valuable ground thanks to a gain of 40.28 points, while Malawi (115, +8), Cabo Verde (73, +7), Ethiopia (140, +6), and Korea DPR (109, +6) also made considerable progress.