Kenya drops three places in latest FIFA rankings

Kenya’s national team, Harambee Stars, have dropped three places in latest edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking released on Thursday, sliding down from position 88 registered in August to position 91 this month.

The Kenyans have, significantly, enjoyed a positive run of results but two drawn matches which were all put into consideration during the rankings pushed the country down three places.

The draws; one against Cranes of Uganda in an August friendly match and another recorded against Zambia’s Chipolopolo a fortnight ago during their AFCON qualifier match, means the country remains second to Uganda (65) in the Cecafa region.

Cote d’Ivoire (34) and Algeria (35) lead the Confederation Africaine de Football (CAF) pack, Malawi (28 places up) are the most improved side while Central African Republic’s drop of 35 places accounts for the region’s worst fall.

The large number of qualifying fixtures for continental competitions (26 matches) and the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia (61 matches) over September is reflected in significant movement.

Despite the shifts up and down the ranking, however, Argentina and Belgium remain fixed in first and second place respectively, cementing their positions at the summit of the World Ranking for another month.

Elsewhere in the top five, Germany (3, up 1) and Colombia (4, down 1) traded places while a rejuvenated Brazil, under new coach Tite, moved into joint fourth place thanks largely due to victories against Colombia and Ecuador in World Cup qualifiers.

A little further down, Uruguay (9, up 3) and Wales (10, up 1) muscled their way into the top ten at the expense of Spain (11, down 3) and Italy (13, down 3).

While Brazil are the month’s biggest points scorers, Bolivia climbed furthest (75, up 35), followed by Malawi (99, up 28), Faroe Islands (111, up 24) and the Dominican Republic (114, up 24)

The two most recent member associations to join FIFA, Gibraltar and Kosovo, participated in their first ever World Cup preliminary matches in September.

With only two A-games to their name in ranking history, Kosovo (168, up 22) were the fifth-biggest climbers this month. In contrast, Gibraltar (205) secured no points from their two matches, the first of which was against newly crowned European champions Portugal (7, down 1).

This month, the following teams reached their best ever position on the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking: Guinea-Bissau (73, up 2), St Kitts and Nevis (77, up 4), Kazakhstan (83, up 13), Comoros (152, up 3), and Kosovo (168, up 22).

A notable mention goes to the four teams breaking into the top 50: Scotland (44, up 7), Australia (45, up 12), Greece (48, up 4), and Uzbekistan (49, up 6).

A total of 126 international A-matches were played over the past few weeks, bringing the total number of games for the 2016 to 632.

The next FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking will be published on 20 October 2016.

-Material sourced from FIFA.com