Johannesburg--Zimbabwes football fortunes have taken another tumble with the team falling eight places down the FIFA/ CocaCola World rankings just released by the world football governing body.According to the rankings released from Zurich, Switzerland, the underachieving team is now ranked 117.
The drop in rankings is attributable to the forgettable outing in the CECAFA Championships held in Kenya in December and the recent 3-0 loss to South Africa in an international friendly.
In November, the team appeared to be on the right track after its successful COSAFA Senior Challenge campaign had seen the Warriors shoot to sixth in the Southern African region and moved them up 23 places in the world ranking to number 108.
The warriors slide in recent years has been attributed to the slide in the teams fortunes after its failure to qualify for the just-ended s African Nations Cup in Angola and the FIFA 2010 World Cup, which neighbouring South Africa will host.
Zimbabwe will watch the FIFA event from home after an embarrassing qualification campaign that cost Brazilian-born coach Jorge Valinhos his job earlier this year.
At its peak in 1994 the team was ranked 40th in the world.
Meanwhile, the just-ended Africa Cup of Nations has had a major impact on the first FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking of the year. While Spain continue to occupy top spot ahead of Brazil and the Netherlands, Egypt managed to climb 14 places to tenth place after they successfully defended their title at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations in Angola.
This is not only Egypts highest-ever position in the ranking, but also the second-highest of any African team since the introduction of the ranking. They have only been bettered by Nigeria, who reached fifth place in April 1994. Other African teams also benefited from their performances in Angola. In the upper echelons of the ranking, semi-finalists Nigeria (15th, up 7) and finalists Ghana (27th, up 7) made considerable strides. Further down the ranking, Zambia (73rd, up 11) and Malawi (82nd, up 17) also made good progress.
A total of 82 international A matches were taken into account for this edition of the ranking, 15 of which were played in 2009. In addition to the 29 matches played in the Africa Cup of Nations, 11 continental qualifying matches and 42 friendlies were played.
Spain, Brazil and Netherlands meanwhile remain at top of the standings.
Post published in: Football