The Gambia have been rewarded for its sixth-place finish at the AFCON by making its biggest move in terms of points and positions on the FIFA World Rankings released today.
At 150, Tom Saintfiet’s charges went into their debut campaign in Africa’s flagship international competition as the lowest ranked side ever to qualify for the biannual tournament. But a quarterfinal finish where they lost to hosts Cameroon and defeated Tunisia, Guinea and Mauritania along the way, showed the Scorpions gained 85.44 points from 1049.74 points in December 2021 to 1135.18.
The Scorpions have now moved by 25 places to 125 in the world and 33 in Africa, ahead of countries like Togo, Angola, Comoros, Sudan, Tanzania and Liberia. African champions Senegal remains the highest ranked side in the continent and at 18 in the world, they’ve moved two places from their previous position of 20.
Reacting to the new rankings released by the world football governing body, Head Coach Tom Saintfiet described it as a great achievement. “We are the biggest movers in the world for the first time in three years,” Saintfiet told GFF Media. “I’m so proud of the new feat. Its’ as a result of a fantastic AFCON that we are now moving so much.”