Ghana dropped one place in FIFA’s monthly rankings for February released on Thursday.

The Black Stars are now ranked 52nd in the world but remains 8th in the world.

Newly crowned Asian champions Qatar have climbed to 55th, gaining 38 places – and reaching their best position since 1993 - on the back of their stunning success in UAE.

The AFC Asian Cup has been responsible almost all of the notable changes in this, the first Ranking of 2019, with the scarcity of games in other confederations leaving the top 20 unchanged – and Belgium still in pole position.

Further down the table, Qatar aren’t the only team to have ascended in spectacular style. Fellow finalists Japan (27th, up 23) have also soared up the order, while Korea Republic (38th, up 15), United Arab Emirates (67th, up 12) and Jordan (97th, up 12) all registered double-digit gains.

Another consequence of these changes is that Asia has boosted its numbers in the Ranking’s top 50.

The AFC is now represented by four teams, up one on the last edition, and now stands level with Africa, whose numbers have been depleted by Congo DR (51st, down 2) dropping out.

Fifa Ranking 1.Belgium 2.France 3.Brazil 4.Croatia 5.England 6.Portugal 7.Uruguay 8.Switzerland 9.Spain 10.Denmark

Africa 1.Senegal(24) 2.Tunisia (28) 3.Morocco(43) 4.Nigeria(46) 5.Congo DR(51) 6.Ghana(52) 7.Cameroon(56) 8.Egypt(57) 9.Burkina Faso(62) 10.Mali (65)]