Bafana’s ranking drops despite World Cup heroics

South Africa’s World Cup qualification has bizarrely seen Bafana Bafana fall four places in the latest Fifa rankings, which the world football’s governing body issued on Friday.

South Africa went from 55th to 59th in the standings despite their 3-0 hammering of Rwanda in Nelspruit on Tuesday, which saw them finish top of Group C and qualify for next year’s World Cup in North America.

The rankings will have also taken into account a goalless draw ‘away’ against Zimbabwe, even if the match was played at Durban’s Moses Mabhida Stadium.

Of the seven African countries who have qualified for the 2026 World Cup since the last rankings (Morocco and Tunisia qualified earlier in September), only South Africa and Cape Verde dropped in the rankings. Cape Verde dropped one place to 71st.

Morocco is the best-ranked African team in 12th place in the world rankings, followed by Senegal (18), Egypt (32), Algeria (35), and Nigeria in 41st place.

The Super Eagles went up in the rankings despite not qualifying for the World Cup, but wins over Lesotho and Benin saw them reach the four-team African playoffs for the best runners-up next month.

South Africa is 10th in the Africa rankings behind two non-qualifiers, Mali (53) and Cameroon (54).

The lowest-ranked of the nine African teams heading to the 2026 World Cup in Canada, Mexico, and the United States is Ghana, who are 73rd in the world and 14th in Africa.

Spain strengthened their grip on top spot thanks to back-to-back victories, shoring up the position they seized in the previous instalment when they ended Argentina’s reign that stretched back to April 2023. World champions Argentina are up to second above France in third place.

The biggest gains come further down the standings. Niger (108th), Lesotho (144th) and the Faroe Islands (127th) have all climbed nine places.