The Gambia have recorded their best-ever Fifa ranking leaping over 10 places in the latest global rankings released by the world football governing body (FIFA).

Touted as one of the biggest movers in the first table of 2009, the Scorpions have climbed up 13 places and now stand at 75th position in the global rankings released by FIFA yesterday. They also bettered their African standing leaping from 23rd to 18th position. The Gambia's present standing broke their previous highest Fifa placing of 83rd position in the April 2008 rankings.

The Gambia's rapid progress in the rankings is attributed to Scorpions heroic display in the 2010 joint World Cup and Nations Cup qualifiers, where they narrowly missed out on qualification to the next stage due to CAF's controversial formula of determining the second-placed teams.

Cameroon continue to head the list of African sides in the rankings, while Egypt jumped a further place. The Indomitable Lions are ranked 14th overall in the world, with African champions Egypt now one place behind them in 15th.

Nigeria have also climbed two places to 17th, benefiting further from their impressive recent unbeaten run in World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers. Ghana's Black Stars are up one to 25th, while Ivory Coast dropped one to 29th.

Last month's big movers Kenya dropped back down to 84th, having briefly climbed to 68th, on the back of qualifying for the final stage of the World and Nations Cup qualifying rounds. See inside page for Gambia's ranking history