The Black stars of Ghana have dropped to 11th place in Africa and 61st in the world in the latest rankings released by the football governing body (FIFA) on Thursday.

It follows a failed bid to land a fifth Afcon crown after crashing out in the group stage of the Cameroon 2021 AFCON Tournament.

Just a point in three games and an embarrassing defeat to Comorose left Ghana packing out of the tournament in the group stage. The Stars last failed to progress from their AFCON group in 2006.

The ratings for the month under review was strongly impacted by the recently concluded Africa Cup of Nations staged in Cameroon.

After winning their first CAF Africa Cup of Nations title last weekend, Senegal continued their ascent into the upper echelons of world football. The Lions of Teranga climbed to 18th in February’s edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking, their highest ever position. Unsurprisingly, the Cup of Nations generated most of the movement seen in the year’s first edition of the Ranking.

Aside from Senegal, the highest ranked African nation in the standings, Cameroon (38, + 12), who finished third at the African Cup, and runners-up Egypt (34, + 11) have made the most significant moves within the TOP 50.

However, the biggest jump of all this month was by Gambia (125, + 25), the Scorpions ascending 25 places courtesy of their run to the quarter-finals at the African Cup. Equatorial Guinea, who also reached the last eight at the tournament, climb 15 places and are now in the Top 100. Other notable rises were those of Malawi (119, + 10) and Gabon (82, + 7). For their part, Mali (48, + 5) made more modest gains but nonetheless broke in to the Top 50.

Overall, Belgium still occupy the top spot in the world ahead of Brazil (2, unchanged) and France (3, unchanged).

The next Fifa/Coca-Cola World Rankings will be published on 31 March 2022.