Bafana Bafana have fallen two places down in the latest Coca Cola/FIFA World Rankings released on Wednesday, 15 February 2012.
South Africa now occupies position 58 in the world (previously 56) and they are in tenth place on the African rankings.
For the first time in many years, Egypt has fallen out of the top ten, as they find themselves on the 11th spot.
2012 Africa Cup of Nations finalists, Cote d’Ivoire still lead the pack on the continent, followed by 2012 semi-finalists Ghana, then Algeria.
Newly-crowned African Champions, Zambia have moved 28 places and are now in position 43 in the world – the first time they are in the top 50 in the world in eleven years. Chipolopolo is fourth in Africa after starting the 2012 Afcon in 16th place.
Mali, Gabon, Libya, Nigeria, Tunisia and Bafana Bafana complete the top ten on the continent.
Top 10 in Africa
(world rankings in brackets)
(15) 1 Côte d'Ivoire 967 3
(23) 2 Ghana 819 3
(36) 3 Algeria 684 -4
(43) 4 Zambia 630 28
(44) 5 Mali 625 25
45) 6 Gabon 617 46
(53) 7 Libya 581 10
(56) 8 Nigeria 573 11
(56) 9 Tunisia 573 3
(58) 10 South Africa 559 -2
Spain remains the top-ranked side in the world, while Germany toppled the Netherlands to go second and third respectively.
Other nations in the top in the world are Uruguay, England, Portugal, Brazil, Italy, Croatia and Denmark.
Argentina dropped out of the top ten for the first time since 2004, falling to 11th.
The next FIFA rankings will be released on Wednesday, 7 March.
