AfricaPress-Tanzania: TANZANIA dropped by four positions in the latest FIFA Women’s World rankings released on Friday, to settle in the 139th position globally.
Not only Tanzania has dropped in the global rankings but also other East Africa nations have dropped down in the official rankings, owing to a lack of activity in recent months.
National women football side, Twiga Stars under Head Coach Bakari Shime alias ‘Black Wizard’ has not been in action since the beginning of this year, although the Under- 20 and Under-17 sides have been busy a bit.
The Under-20 side is engaged in the U-20 Women’s World Cup qualifying tournament by neighbours. Tanzania knocked out Uganda for an aggregate score of 4-2 in the first round to progress into the next stage.
For 2020 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup qualifiers, Tanzania was knocked out by Uganda on 6-2 aggregate in the second round of the qualifiers late early this month.
In the previous rankings released last December, Tanzania settled in 135th position after accumulating 978 points and go up by two positions but this time, they remained with the same points.
Kenya are topping the CECAFA member states in the latest FIFA women’s world rankings. Kenya are placed in position 137 with 986 points, same as December, in which they were placed 133.
The Harambee Starlets remain the highest-ranked team in East Africa recently taking part in the Turkish Women’s Cup competition in Turkey.
After defeating Northern Ireland 2-0 in their opening match, they went on to fall 5-0 against Chile before Ghana handed them a 3-1 loss.
Coincidentally, the two nations were set to face each other in the first round of the 2020 AWCON qualifiers but it has been postponed owing to Covid-19.
In the continental, Kenya lead the CECAFA member states as they are positioned in the 20th position, followed by Tanzania, who are place in 21st slot.
Rwanda are positioned 144 globally and 23rd in the continental and Uganda’s Crested Cranes are in 146th place globally and 25th in the continental after also dropping four positions.
In Africa, Nigeria is the highest-ranked country in position 38 in the world having accumulated 1614 points.
Cameroon is second in the 51st position with 1486 points, followed by South Africa who is placed in position 53 with 1434 points.
The first five positions in the world are held by the USA, Germany, France, Netherlands, and Sweden.
