South Africa moved from 67 to 57 following impressive performances in the CAF Orange Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2015 qualifiers.
In four matches, Bafana Bafana amassed eight points after wins over Sudan and Congo, as well as draws against Nigeria and Congo to propel them to the 57th spot.
“This is good news. It shows we are doing something right especially in such a short space of time. It is still early days though, there is a lot of work to be done and hopefully we will get even higher on the rankings.
“But I am happy there are some huge improvements. Now the challenge is to maintain the position and even better it,” said Bafana Bafana head coach Ephraim Shakes Mashaba.
World Champions Germany lead the pack in the world, followed by Brazil 2014 FIFA World Cup runners up Argentina. Colombia, Belgium and Netherlands make the top five. Completing the top 10 are Brazil, France, Uruguay, Portugal and former 2010 World Champions Spain.
The next FIFA/Coca-Cola World Rankings will be released on Thursday, 27 November 2014.
(find the list of the top 12 African countries below)
Country World Ranking
1. Algeria 15
2. Cote d’Ivoire 25
3. Tunisia 31
4. Cape Verde Islands 33
5. Ghana 35
6. Egypt 38
7. Cameroon 40
8. Senegal 41
9. Nigeria 42
10. Togo 52
11. Guinea 55
12. South Africa 57