Bafana's players celebrate after sealing the bronze medal. Picture: Ladjal Djaffar/BackpagePix
Bafana Bafana are ranked among the top ten sides on the continent, after winning the bronze medal at the Africa Cup of Nations finals in the Ivory Coast.
World footballing body Fifa on Thursday released their latest rankings, and South Africa have moved up eight places to 58th in the global rankings. In the rankings for African teams, they are now in 10th.
This is Bafana’s best global ranking since 2015, when they recorded a highest ranking of 52nd in the world.
Hugo Broos’ side got themselves some good ranking points at the AFCON, beating Africa’s number one ranked team Morocco in the last 16, and holding Tunisia, Nigeria, Cape Verde and DR Congo.
Nigeria did knock Bafana out in the AFCON semifinals via a penalty shootout, but Fifa still records the match as a draw.
The Ivory Coast’s victory over Nigeria in the AFCON final has helped catapult them ten places up the world rankings into 39th, while Nigeria have jumped 14 places to 28th on the globe despite losing the final 2-1 to the Elephants.
If Bafana can continue to push their way up the rankings they will increase their chances of getting better seeding