Algerian international defender Madjid Bougherra said he is proud of Algeria's 15th place in the FIFA world monthly rankings.
"I played my first match with Algeria's national team in 2004, and we were then close to the 100th place. We are now ranked 15th. We've come a long way since those days, and we can only be proud," the defender of Al-Fujairah (division 1, United Arab Emirates) told France Football website on Friday.
Africa's leading nation and ranking ahead of England and Mexico worldwide, Algeria has reached in October its best FIFA ranking so far.
Algeria ranks 15th thanks to the latest two games it won against Malawi: a first-leg match on October 11 (0-2) and the second leg on October 15 (3-1), as part of the third and fourth days of Africa Cup of Nations (CAN 2014) qualifiers.
Algeria is always the leading African team in the FIFA world rankings, ahead of Ivory Coast (25th). The difference between the two nations was two positions only in September rankings.
In the Arab world, Algeria is also leader ahead of Egypt (38).
Source: APS