The just ended African Cup of Nations 2021 (AFCON 2021) held in Cameroon, from 9th January 2022 to 6th February 2022, had Senegal come out as winners of the tournament, defeating Egypt in the finals during a penalty shootout ending 4-2. Cameroon ended up taking third place defeating Burkina Faso during a penalty shootout for the third position.
Rankings encounter changes after tournaments like these, and although the recent Cup of Nations have come to a close there have not been any changes made. Below are the top African national teams and their current rankings:
| Country | FIFA Ranking | Zonal Ranking |
| Senegal | 20 | 1 |
| Morocco | 28 | 2 |
| Algeria | 29 | 3 |
| Tunisia | 30 | 4 |
| Nigeria | 36 | 5 |
| Egypt | 45 | 6 |
| Cameroon | 50 | 7 |
| Ghana | 52 | 8 |
| Mali | 53 | 9 |
| La Côte d’Ivoire | 56 | 10 |
| Burkina Faso | 60 | 11 |
| Cape Verde | 73 | 14 |
| Guinea | 81 | 15 |
| Gabon | 89 | 19 |
| Mauritania | 103 | 23 |
| Sudan | 125 | 33 |
| Zimbabwe | 121 | 31 |
| The Gambia | 150 | 46 |
| Comoros | 132 | 38 |
| Guinea-Bissau | 106 | 24 |
| Ethiopia | 137 | 40 |
| Malawi | 129 | 35 |
| Equatorial Guinea | 114 | 28 |
| Sierra Leone | 108 | 25 |
The likelihood of changes to occur will go down after the FIFA World Cup has taken place. Till then, this is what stands as of now.
