- 160 international matches played in November
- Top three unchanged in FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking
- African duo make most progress
"VAN" (Sports Desk) :: With no fewer than 160 full internationals played in November, including qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup™, CAF Africa Cup of Nations, and UEFA EURO 2020, the latest edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking sees plenty of movement.
While the podium remains unchanged, Belgium have widened the gap on their immediate pursuers France. Third-placed Brazil are closing in on Les Bleus after extending their perfect start in South American qualifying for Qatar 2022.
Despite the lack of movement at the summit, there are some familiar faces back in the Top 10, with Mexico (9th, +2) and Italy (10th, +2) making their return after nine and four years respectively. Croatia (11th, -2) and Colombia (15th, -5) are the two teams dropping out.
A little further down, Romania (37th, +7) and Hungary (40th, +7) have also made impressive gains, while Egypt (49th, +3) and Cameroon (50th, +3) move into the Top 50 at the expense of Costa Rica (51st, -1) and Ghana (52nd, -4).
However, the biggest climbers this month are two other African sides: Equatorial Guinea (134th, +10) and Burundi (138th, +10). The former shone in back-to-back victories over Libya (111th, -9) in AFCON qualifying, while the latter first drew and then beat Mauritania (101st, -3) in the same competition.
Four other national teams have moved up five or more places in this month’s classification, namely: Latvia (136th, +6), Curacao (76th, +5), Azerbaijan (109th, +5) and South Sudan (163rd, +5).
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