Africa’s winners and losers in new FIFA World Rankings

The FIFA Men’s World Rankings have been updated following the March international friendlies. With a record ten African teams heading to this summer’s World Cup, this was the final adjustment before each nation names its squad for the tournament.

The new rankings are based off March’s international games, with points being awarded based on results and the strength of opponents. Some nations had a strong set of games, rising up the rankings, while others struggled. Here are the teams who’ve moved up heading into the tournament, along with those who suffered late setbacks.

Ghana has dropped two places in the most recent FIFA World Rankings, down to 74th. This is unlucky for the Black Stars, who took on an exceptionally hard pair of games against major European sides in the March window.

The team first faced 24th ranked Austria, who won 5-1, before travelling on to play World Cup contenders Germany. This game ended in a narrower 2-1 defeat, with the 10th ranked ultimately nation too strong for Ghana.

South Africa also dropped two places in the FIFA Rankings, down to 60th, after coach Hugo Broos used the March games to experiment. Bafana Bafana took the unusual step of playing Panama twice in March, giving Broos a consistent opponent to fine tune his plans on.

The first game ended in a 1-1 draw, with Panama winning the second 2-1. While it would’ve been nice to finish these games with a win, and avoid the slip down the FIFA Rankings, the most important thing was to try out plans for this summer’s World Cup.

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A number of nations improved their FIFA rankings after the March friendlies, but one team who continues to draw attention is Tunisia. The Eagles of Carthage moved up three places to 44th in the world, and continued their recovery after a poor Africa Cup of Nations in 2025.

 Tunisia opened that tournament well with a 3-1 victory over Uganda, before losing to Nigeria and drawing with Tanzania. The team was then eliminated in the Round of 16 by Mali, and the performance cost Sami Trabelsi his head coaching job.

 There are still plenty of positives for Tunisia heading into the World Cup. They became the first ever team to qualify for the tournament without conceding a goal, and were undefeated against fellow World Cup participants Haiti and Canada in March. This new climb up the rankings shows the team haven’t been too unsettled by its AFCON performance.

 Tunisia wasn’t the only African nation to improve its FIFA rankings. Egypt rose to 29th, while Côte d'Ivoire moved up to 34th. Congo and Mali also moved up two spots, rising to 46th and 52nd respectively.