The Senior National team, the Black stars are unmoved according to December’s rankings released by the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) on Thursday.

The Black stars, who are eyeing a fifth Afcon crown, sit in eighth place in Africa and 52nd in the world with 1428.97 points.

Senegal are ranked first in Africa and 20th in the world with 1561 points, while Morocco’s Atlas Lions – who are also unmoved – remain 28th globally and second in Africa after accruing 1529 points.

Afcon hosts Cameroon are 50th in the world, while reigning African champions and Fifa Arab Cup kings Algeria are ranked 30th globally and third in the continent.

Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, only 352 full internationals were played in 2020. Not since 1987 (323 matches) had so few games been played in a calendar year. By contrast, planet football made up for lost time in 2021 with a record breaking 1116 matches played.

And while the quantity of games changed radically from one year to the next, the top ranked team in the FIFA/ Coca-Cola World Ranking has remained the same! For the fourth year in a row, Belgium (1st) end the calendar year in pole position, albeit only just ahead of Brazil (2nd) by 2.1 points. France (3rd) complete the podium for 2021.

For their part, Canada (40th) are the year’s ‘Most Improved Side’ having picked up no fewer than 130.32 points over the last 12 months. Their journey to the semi-finals of the 2021 Gold Cup as well as impressive results in FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ qualifying have been major factors in their rise.

Ghana are in Group C, where they will battle it out with Morocco, Gabon and Comoros in next year’s AFCON hosted in Cameroon.