Africa-Press – Cape verde. Tubarões Azuis are the only team from Portuguese-speaking African countries (PALOP) that remains in the top 100 of the FIFA ranking, released this Thursday, April 1.
Cape Verde is in 71st place, followed by Guinea-Bissau (115th), Mozambique (119th), Angola (126th) and São Tomé and Príncipe (183rd). Macau remains in 182nd and Timor-Leste in 198th.
The ranking, remember, serves to determine the hierarchy of the teams selected in the 2022 World Cup draw. As for the other countries, Brazil dislodged Belgium and reached first place, while Portugal maintains 8th place.
Belgium had been at the top of the FIFA rankings since 20 September 2018, but was overtaken the day before the draw for the 2022 World Cup finals by Brazil, the record holder of world titles (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002) , which had not led since August 2017.
The FIFA ranking update serves as the basis for the distribution of the teams qualified for the World Cup into four pots (with eight teams each), in the draw to be held this Friday, at 19:00 (16:00 in Cape Verde), in Doha .
The change in the lead will not have any impact on the draw, as the seven teams qualified for the finals with the best positions in the ranking are guaranteed a place in pot 1, reserved for the seeds of the series, in which Qatar will also be, as organizing country.
France closes the podium, behind Brazil and Belgium, and the positions remain unchanged until eighth place, occupied by Portugal, behind Argentina (fourth), England (fifth), Italy (sixth), the only member of the “top-10” who failed to qualify, and Spain (seventh).
Mexico was the only entry in the top 10, for ninth position, with 15.96 points less than Portugal, and therefore remaining in pot 2 of the 2022 World Cup draw, overtaking the Netherlands, which remained in 10th, Denmark (11th) and Germany (12th).
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