Improvement for Cranes in the October 2019 Fifa rankings

Uganda Cranes have moved up in the latest Fifa football rankings released today by one slot.

The Cranes now climb to 79th position in the world with a total of 1311 points and are placed at 16th in Africa, remaining the best in the Cecafa region.

The rise comes after Uganda Cranes beat Ethiopia 1-0 in an international friendly in Adis Ababa and also secured a place in the 2020 CHAN tournament after a 6-0 aggregate win over Burundi in the final round of the qualifiers.

Uganda’s 2021 Afcon qualifier opponents; Burkina Faso are in the 60th position, Malawi (124) and South Sudan at 162.

Neighbours Kenya dropped by one slot to 108, while Tanzania moved 2 places up to 133, Burundi is at 143 and Rwanda at 129.

The top five countries in Africa are; Senegal (20), Tunisia (29), Nigeria (35), Algeria (38) and Morocco (42).

Belgium (1st, unchanged) still lead the way from France (2nd, unchanged) and Brazil (3rd, unchanged), although top-ten rivals Uruguay (5th, up 1), Croatia (7th, up 1), Argentina (9th, up 1) have at least edged closer to the summit.

But the most significant rises are to be found down the Ranking, where the in-form quartet of Ukraine (22nd, up 3), Japan (28th, up 3), Turkey (32nd, up 4) and Russia (37th, up 5) are among the more notable climbers.

Jumps of ten or more places have also been made by a clutch of teams outside the top 50, namely Nicaragua (137th, up 11), South Sudan (162nd, up 11), Barbados (160th, up 10) and São Tomé and Príncipe (180th, up 10).

And there is fresh celebrate, too, for Kosovo (114th, up 5), who can again reflect with pride on their best Ranking position to date.

Nicaragua was the best mover, moving up by 11 ranks to 137, while Mauritius fell hardest, dropping by 12 places to 173.

The next FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking will be released on 28 November 2019.