CAIRO: November's FIFA/Coca-Cola world rankings was fairly unchanged at the top, with only one new country entering the top 10. Egypt was that country, overtaking Russia to re-enter the top 10 countries in the world. Another African nation was on the move, with South Africa moving into the top 50 for the first time since February 2006. The biggest winners all hail from the Caribbean, with the numerous matches played at the Caribbean Cup, which also serves as a qualifying tournament for the CONCACAF Gold Cup, bringing some participating teams major gains in terms of points. These include Trinidad and Tobago (78th, up 28), Guyana (86th, up 12) and Grenada (91st, up 34), who are the highest climbers in the entire ranking. Outside CONCACAF, only Botswana (67th, up 12) and Cambodia (170th, up 12) have moved up more than ten places. Inside the top 50, however, the situation has remained relatively settled, with no teams climbing more than two places and only one (Burkina Faso, 41st) dropping four. The results of 34 new ‘A' international matches were factored into the current edition of the world ranking, bringing the total number of matches taken into account this year to 673. Almost half of the matches played this month (16 games) were qualifiers for the Gold Cup, meaning that it was mainly teams from the Caribbean who enjoyed big gains in points and places in the November edition of the ranking. BM
