The Zambia national soccer team has moved 18 places up the FIFA ladder according to the September 2017 FIFA rankings released in Zurich on Thursday.
Zambia is now the highest ranked team from the Cosafa region.
The Chipolopolo who ranked 96th in August now stand at 78th in the world and are back in the top 20 in Africa standing on position 16.
This is the best upward movement the Chipolopolo has recorded since winning the 2012 Africa Cup in 2012 when they moved 28 places up the ladder.
Since February this year, the Chipolopolo have hovered above position 90 in the world rankings.
Zambia defeated Algeria home and away in their Group B World Cup qualifiers played on  2nd and 5th September respectively, results which helped Wedson Nyirenda’s side to their new position.
In other recent matches which were played in the month under review, Zambia held South Africa in a 2-2 draw in East London before winning 2-0 in Ndola to qualify for the African Nations Championship finals via a 4-2 aggregate score line.
They are now the highest ranked team from the Cosafa Region and one of two teams from Southern Africa ranked among the top 100 teams along with of South Africa who are ranked 80th globally and 18th in Africa.
Cosafa champions Zimbabwe are ranked 4th in Cosafa Region, 27th in Africa and 105th in the World behind Madagascar who occupy 26th position in Africa and are placed 101st globally.
Zambia’s next opponents in the FIFA 2018 World Cup qualifiers Nigeria fell 6 places and are ranked 5th while Cameroon are 6th in Africa.
CAF FIFA Ranking
1.Egypt (30) 2. Tunisia (31) 3. Senegal (33) 4. Congo DR (42) 5. Nigeria (44) 6. Cameroon (45) 7. Burkina Faso (49) 8. Ghana (52) 9. Cote d’Ivoire (54) 10. Morocco (54) 11. Algeria (62) 12. Guinea (65) 13. Cape Verde Islands (67) 14. Uganda (71) 15. Mali (76) 16. Zambia (78) 17. Gabon (79) 18. South Africa (80) 19. Libya (81) 20. Benin (88)
Wonderful wonderful movement we deserve this but one thing i’m surprised with is the position of the cranes of Uganda are they really performing? .anyway its gr8 news for Chipolopolo boys hope we continue with the same rising spirit.
#zambia’s #1 fan.
Well Done WADA, You have been vindicated let the insults flow from the “Musungu Coach” bootlickers, I am happy for you especially that you are a BLACK MAN and a Zambian who most people, on this blog, felt was and is inferior to a white Coach?????…. Africa is Great I will always not put Africa down don’t worry Coach you can do it! You can qualify Chipolopolo to their first ever World Cup and even reach the semi – finals because the wheels have turned Africa is rising! Go Chipolopolo Go!!!!!!!
9ja has taken this one, sorry zambia next time.
Great News. We just have to keep pushing. Nothing against Uganda, Guinea, Mali who (were recently wire 6-1) these teams can’t be ranked higher than us. Though FIFA rankings are just on paper on the pitch its a totally different story.
Well done to the Coach and boys for this push up on the rankings.
Question for Zamfoot to research the record for Zambia’s Away wins in WEST AFRICA? this should give us an indication on where Zambia stands
You gave us history before on Zambia’s ever first soccer game played wich was against the Ghana black stars during your indepence day and lost to Ghana, making your first ever lost with many more to come from West Africans, So my question to Zamfoot is since that day of indepenance how many times has Zambia gone to west Africa and won? how many time has west Africa come to Zambia and win? Please we want FACTS……
I cant find anything on Zambia having an away win in the history of Zambian football in WEST AFRICA, if Zambia is to prepare for the future it is very important you overcome the weakness of failing in west African countries and find a solution to what it is that makes you fail and work on that. Because you can never go through a world cup qualifier without going through the West Africans. This will happen every 4 years so I suggest playing consistent friendlies in west Africa to overcome this issue because you will face them again and again only to be disappointed because you choose to not work on your weakness year in year out and that’s winning away in west Africa..
Ba ZULU, surely, whats so special about West Africa? Other than the recent 2:1 loss to Nigeria in the World Cup qualifiers, you should be consoled that they too (West Africans) gets hammered when they’re in town. We have been pounding them to pulp for such a longtime!
Great news
Richly deserved. Congratulations Mr Nyirenda and Chambeshi!!!!!
WE are on the move and back to where we belong….. i.e. at the top!!!!
THIS ZULU AGAIN
LOL…Seems you know him alot?
Zambia had not won in Algeria before but we finally won.hope this statement may make sense to someone
Cape Verde was ranked below us and played 2 games just like we did and they won all their games just like we did, they had a +2 goal difference of which we were better with a +3 but they moved passing us on the rankings. What multiplier coefficient did the rankers use.
am also supprised mali who were wired 6 goals to one or it could have been 7 but the grace of God it was 6 they are better than us and even the juju boys are better than us
this ranking is unfair bacameroun makula
Wana ngakalila bonso wana mupase,zulu wants the stats zamfoot Please unveil them to him kikiki
Chipolopolo so far so good, thumbs up boys!
Even if zamfoot fails to show previous wins and loses in west African countries it doesn’t matter football has changed these days look at RSA they never beaten Nigeria before but today Nigeria seems to be their daily bread they could have beaten them twice but to indiscipline they equalised (previously)
9ja all the way.
Sorry zambian’s it is too late. 9ja has taken this one.
Ordinarily we love Zambians because they seem to have a fighting spirit, like Nigerians. But the arrogance of their coach towards the SE is distasteful. The problem is that Zambians think that soccer is all physical play. NO! Technical, technical, technical. This is lacking with the Chipolopolo. Market your kids to reputable clubs in Europe. Send your kids to soccer academies in Nigeria. They can still school and play soccer. This is an insider secret. And stop challenging Nigeria until you’re mature enough.