AfricaPress-Tanzania: TANZANIA‘S Taifa Stars continue to remain static in the latest rankings released by the world football governing body (FIFA) released on Thursday.
Stars now under the tutelage of tactician Kim Poulsen after the Tanzania Football Federation (TFF ) parted ways with Burundian coach Etienne Ndairagije by mutual understanding, have remained in the same position since December last year.
Ndairagije guided Taifa Stars in the recently ended CHAN finals which saw Tanzania fail to make it into the knockout stage after losing 2-0 to Zambia before sealing a 1-0 win over Namibia and later forced a 2-2 draw with Guinea.
The national senior football team, Stars commenced the 2021 in 135th position in the global football rankings after accruing 1087 points to remain in the same position with no changes of position for three consecutive rankings.
And the same fate has fallen to Taifa Stars opponents in group J of the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations Qualifiers (AFCON) Libya, Equatorial Guinea and Tunisia who also failed to move from their previous positions .
Tunisia who are at the top of group J are positioned 26th globally and second in the continent while Libya who are at the bottom of the group are positioned 111th and secondplaced Equatorial Guinea have settled at the 134th position.
The same goes to the 2022 Fifa World Cup qualifiers for Africa group J which Tanzania’s Taifa Stars are pooled alongside Madagascar, DR Congo and Benin.
DR Congo and Madagascar are settled at the 60th and 94th positions respectively while Benin is the only side in the group which has gone up by one position to settle at the 82nd position.
In the first FIFA/Coca-Cola World ranking of 2021, a total of 43 full international matches including one played last December were taken into account. The standout tournament in recent weeks has been the African Nations Championship (CHAN), where a total of 32 games took place.
These fixtures as well as the other 11 games played have been classified as friendlies, because only players competing in the national championships of the participating countries are eligible to take part in the CHAN. In the standings, CHAN winners Morocco (33rd, + 2), and runners-up Mali (54th, + 3) have made the most progress. Thirdplaced Guinea (72nd, + 1) and quarter-finalists Congo (90th, + 1) have also advanced.
Other teams moving in the right direction include Costa Rica (50th, + 1), currently back in the Top 50 after an absence of several months, Cape Verde (80th, + 1), Oman (81st, + 1), Benin (82nd, + 1), Azerbaijan (108th, + 1), Estonia (108th, + 1), Thailand (110th, + 1), Guinea-Bissau (119th, + 1), Tajikistan (120th, + 1) and Guatemala (130th, + 1). Those teams aside, no other country has enhanced its position since December, and the Top 32 places in the standings remain unchanged since the end of 2020.
Belgium, France, Brazil, England and Portugal continue to occupy the top spots, with the leading trio of Belgium, France and Brazil only separated by 37 points.
The fight for top spot promises to be an exciting one this year with a string of major tournaments scheduled (Copa America, UEFA EURO and Concacaf Gold Cup) as well as the resumption of qualifying for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™.
The next FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking will be published on 8 April 2021.
