Zimpapers Logo

ZIMBABWE Warriors moved two places down the ladder on the Fifa/Coca-Cola world rankings while remaining rooted on the same spot on the African continent.
The Warriors were disbanded last month by the Cuthbert Dube led Zifa board following a disastrous 2015 Afcon campaign.

The disbanding of the Warriors was the second in two years, the first when the Warriors, under Rahman Gumbo agonizingly failed to qualify for Afcon 2013 in South Africa.

Zifa said they will now concentrate on developmental sides from the Under-23 downwards.

According to the latest rankings released yesterday from the Fifa headquarters in Zurich, Swizterland, the Warriors are now ranked 92nd on the world stage, down from 90th last month but are still the 24th best team in Africa and fourth best in the southern region.

South Africa are is the best placed southern African side, ranked 14th in Africa and 67th in the world while Zambia, who are bidding to play host to the 2019 Nations Cup are ranked 22nd in African and 88th in the world with Botswana, previously a nonentity in African football, now ranked above Zimbabwe at 22nd in African and 91st on the world stage.

A total of 141 matches were played during the period under review with over 80 of them being continental qualifiers in Europe and Africa.

World Cup finalists Germany and Argentina have slightly extended their lead over the chasing pack and remain unchallenged at the top. They are followed in third position by Colombia, who have swapped places with the Netherlands.

The Oranje have paid dearly for their 2-1 defeat at the hands of Czech Republic in their opening qualifying match for Uefa Euro 2016. For their part, Colombia have equalled their highest-ever position, Los Cafeteros having previously achieved third in July and August 2013.

In the top 10, meanwhile, Brazil (sixth, up one) and France (ninth, up one) have gained ground, while Uruguay (seventh, down one), Spain (eighth, down one) and Switzerland (10th, down one) have each dropped a place.

However, this month’s biggest winners are Guatemala, whose three wins in four matches in the qualifiers for the Concacaf Gold Cup 2015 have seen the team led by coach Victor Monzon leap by 77 places to 57th in the table. The win against World Cup participants Honduras yielded many of those points. With Iceland (34th, up 12), Congo (48th, up 30) and Antigua and Barbuda (80th, up 69), September 2014 saw three teams reaching their highest-ever positions since the world ranking was introduced in 1993.

Of the 141 international “A” matches taken into account for this month’s ranking, over half of them, 80 were continental qualifiers in Europe, Africa and Concacaf, the other 61 fixtures being friendlies. This takes the total number of international “A” matches played in 2014 so far to 526.

Leader    Germany (unchanged)

Moves into top ten    none
Moves out of top ten    none
Matches played in total    141
Most matches played    Guatemala (6 matches
Biggest move by points    Guatemala (up 331 points)
Biggest move by ranks    Guatemala  (up 77 ranks
Biggest drop by points    Venezuela (down 248 points)
Biggest drop by ranks    Togo (down 38 ranks). – Senior Sports Reporter/Fifa.com.