THEY may not have made it to the finals of a major championship since France in 1998, but Scotland's football team are on the march again.

With the national team climbing to an impressive 22nd place in this month's Fifa world rankings, Scotland are officially the most improved country in the world.

The team continued its excellent recent run of form with a 1-0 friendly victory in Poland last month, enough for Scotland to jump 15 places to 22nd.

The Scots have risen 47 places since Gordon Strachan was appointed in January last year. When the former Celtic manager took over, Scotland were languishing in 69th place and dropped to 78th four months later.

However, wins against the likes of Croatia, Norway and the Poles have meant Scotland are on the cusp of joining the top 20 teams in the world.

It is the Scots' best placing for almost five years, and they have now risen above the likes of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Sweden, Denmark, Serbia, Turkey and are 23 places above their next opponents, Nigeria, who they face in London in May.