Four of the five African soccer teams that qualified for last year's World Cup continue to hold down the top four places on the continent, in the latest FIFA world rankings released March 26.
African and Olympic champion Cameroon remains number one. "The Indomitable Lions" of Cameroon are 17th overall, according to FIFA. World Cup quarterfinalist Senegal is number two in Africa. "The Lions of Teranga" from Senegal are 28th overall. "The Super Eagles" of Nigeria and "Bafana Bafana" of South Africa are tied for third in Africa. Each has 627 ranking points, which leaves them at 30th overall.
The top-10 African teams remained the same as February, except for the number 10 position. "The Simba" of the Democratic Republic of Congo took over the number 10 place from "The Desert Warriors" of Algeria, who slipped one spot to number 11.
Taking a look at the other top-10 African teams, Morocco is fifth, followed by Egypt, Tunisia, Zimbabwe and Ghana.
The biggest African mover in the monthly FIFA rankings was "The Squirrels" of Benin. "The Squirrels" gathered more than a few nuts and jumped up 16 places from February to number 133 overall. The next FIFA world rankings will be released April 23, 2003.