The Gambia have jumped into the top 100 on the FIFA world placing again after suffering a drastic drop in December 2009 rankings.

In the latest rankings released by the world football?s governing body (FIFA), the Scorpions have climbed up eighteen places in the global rankings jumping from 116 position to become the world?s best 98th side. The Scorpions also make a considerable rise in the African rankings jumping up from 32nd to 22nd position.

The country?s recent improvement in the rankings could be attributed to the Scorpions last two friendly matches in January, where they held the 2010 Nations Cup hosts Angola to a 1-1 draw before following that up with a resounding 2-1 victory over the fancy Cartage Eagles of Tunisia. The Gambia?s best ever rankings dates back to January 2009 when they were placed as the best 75th side on the global rankings and 20th on the continental ranking.

Meanwhile, the newly re-crowned African champions Egypt have climbed into the top ten in the latest rankings. The Pharaohs moved up 14 places to number 10 and are now Africa's number one team.  Not only is this Egypt's highest placing ever, it's also the second highest ever by an African team after Nigeria placed fifth in 1994.

Nigeria moved seven places to 15th and are now Africa's second best placed team in the ranking. Egypt beat Ghana's Black Stars 1-0 in Sunday's final to win the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola. It's their third consecutive victory in the competition and their seventh in total.  Other big movers in the New Year?s ranking are Ghana who moved seven places to 27th and are now fifth on the African table.

However it's not such good news for Africa's other World Cup bound teams. Cameroon lost nine places and are now 20th in the world, while Ivory Coast and Algeria fell six and five places respectively. Spain continues to occupy the top spot in the world ranking ahead of Brazil and the Netherlands.