CAIRO: Egypt broke into the top 10 in the FIFA monthly ranking for the first time in history despite failing to qualify to the World Cup. The African champions were placed ninth in the July ranking, ahead of Italy, who come 11th and France, who were placed in the 21st spot. Both France and Italy, finalists in the 2006 World Cup, bowed out of the global showpiece from the first round. Egypt's best spot in the ranking was the 12th in January 2010. They missed out on the World Cup after losing to 1-0 to Algeria, now placed 33rd, back in November. Algeria were also ousted from the World Cup group stage, failing to collect any point or even score. Egypt were also the best African team in the ranking, leaving Ghana, who reached the quarter-finals in South Africa, trailing with 14 spots. Hassan Shehata's team will not play till August, when they feature in a friendly with Kuwait in preparation for the African Cup of Nations qualifiers that start in September. Newly-crowned world champions Spain topped the ranking followed by Holland, Brazil, Germany and Argentina.
