Football governing body FIFA released the January 2018 rankings with Uganda Cranes improving by two slots to 73rd position globally.
Despite a third-place finish in the CECAFA tournament and failing to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, the Cranes, also ranked 16th in Africa, managed to make the rise as the rankings were calculated over the last four years.
Uganda remains the best in the CECAFA region, followed by Kenya (105), Rwanda (116), Sudan (124), Tanzania (146) and Burundi (197).
Four of the top five African ranked teams qualified for Russia 2018 with Tunisia at 23 – one of the biggest movers – moving up four places into top spot, closely followed by Senegal (24), Egypt (30), Morocco (39) and DR Congo (51).
Kuwait was the most improved country, moving up by 15 spots to 174, while Suriname was the worst, dropping by 32 places to 160.
The top five countries in the world: Germany, Brazil, Portugal, Argentina and Belgium, maintain their positions.
Croatia at 15 and Iceland (20, up 2) are the only teams to enter the top 20, with the Netherlands (21, down 1), dropping out.
The next rankings’ release will be on February 15, 2018.
