Bafana Bafana have been rewarded for their good showing in the two matches that they played during the recent FIFA dates.
Hugo Broos' charges won 2-0 away in Uganda and then triumphed 3-0 against South Sudan before a partisan crowd in Cape Town.
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With those two wins, Bafana finished top in Group K with 14 points out of a possible 18.
The points dropped were from the two draws against Uganda and Congo-Brazzaville.
Broos' team had qualification achieved with two games to spare, but the two wins have come with the benefit of moving up the FIFA rankings.
It has now been officially confirmed that Bafana have moved three places on the global stage from 60 to 57, while going up to 10th on the continent after dislodging DR Congo.
Position 57 will become Bafana's best since February 2015.
The Belgian took over from Molefi Ntseki with the team in shambles down and ranked 75th.
The 10th position on the continent is also where Bafana sat after their third-place finish at the AFCON finals earlier this year.
Tunisia (9), Mali (8), Cameroon (7), and Cote d'Ivoire (6) now stand on the way of Bafana breaking into the top five African nations, which is led by Morocco with Senegal, Egypt, Algeria, and Nigeria in that order.
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Bafana will only be back in action next year in March when they resume their 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Lesotho and Benin.
The best FIFA ranking for Bafana was in August 1996 when they climbed all the way to position 16 in the world just months after winning the AFCON.