Banyana Banyana have climbed three places to 53rd position in latest FIFA Coca Cola Women’s World Rankings released on Friday, 22 March 2013.

The Sasol sponsored senior women’s national team has made similar strides on the continent moving into fourth position, one place above the 2012 African Women’s Championship winners, Equatorial Guinea.

Nigeria retains their position as the number one team on the continent followed by Cameroon and Ghana in second and third place respectively.

Banyana Banyana head coach, Joseph Mkhonza said he was excited about the recent developments.

“I am very happy; this is good news for me and the whole country. We want to see ourselves amongst the top 10 in the world and be consistently in the top three in Africa.”

“I thought we did well in the Cyprus Women’s Cup despite finishing in the 11th place. We must continue building on what we learnt during the tournament. We will continue to introduce new players to the squad as a means of having more players and creating healthy competition.”

Mkhonza, who is South Africa’s 2012 Coach of the Year, applauded the controlling soccer body, SAFA and sponsors Sasol for giving women soccer great exposure, something he said raised the profile of women football.

The next FIFA Women’s World Rankings will be released on Friday, 21 June 2013.