Q FM Africa's Modern Radio
Zambia national team players celebrate their victory as they pose with their gold medals
The Zambia national football team has improved its position on the latest Fifa rankings published on Thursday, rising by a single place to its highest position this year, to end 2017 in 74th position globally, 15th in Africa and as the highest ranked team from the Cosafa region.
Zambia started the year ranked 88th globally but fell to 99th position by June, before rising eighteen places to 78th in September and improved with each month thereafter.
The team’s performance in African Nations Championship and Fifa World Cup qualifiers contributed to its steady rise on the rankings in the second half of the year.
They are however ranked 13 places behind their African Nations Championship Group B opponents Ivory Coast (61st globally, 11th in Africa), and a single place above Uganda (75, 16) while Namibia are ranked 118th in the World and 31st in Africa.
They are placed above all their Group K opponents in qualifying for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations – Guinea Bissau (86, 19), Mozambique (110, 29) as well as Namibia.
The next Fifa/Coca-Cola World Ranking will be published on 18 January 2018.
Full list of how Zambia ranked in 2017:
January (88), February (91), March (90), April (97), May (98), June (99), July (92), August (96), September (78) October (77), November (75), December (74).