FIFA Rankings: Uganda drops down a place

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Uganda Cranes were surprisingly one step down on the monthly FIFA Rankings released Thursday by the world football governing body as they dropped from 86th to 87th spot.

It is expected that the upcoming 2015 AFCON pre-qualifier on Saturday will ensure plenty of movement in the next edition of the FIFA Ranking. Coach Mico’s side who face Mauritania tallied 385 points five less than what they had last month and is ranked number 20 on the continent while the Mauritanians have risen four places from 137 to 133 in the world and 41st in Africa. Cranes must win at Namboole with a big margin before playing away from home in the return leg in a fortnight to stand a chance of qualifying for group stages where Ghana, Togo and Guinea are lurking in Group E.

Neighbours Kenya have jumped 13 placed up the table to the 95th positionwhile Tanzania, Rwanda and Ethiopia follow in that order within the CECAFA region. This is a commendable turn around for the Kenyans after suffering a marginal drop last month to position 108 from the 106th position it managed in May 2014.

Germany lead the table for the first time in around 20 years, followed by Argentina and the Netherlands. The Oranje’s third-place finish at the World Cup has propelled them 12 positions up the table and back into the top ten.

All of the teams that exited the World Cup in the quarter-finals have climbed up the ranking: Colombia (fourth, up four), Belgium (fifth, up six), France (tenth, up seven) and Costa Rica (16th, up 12 – the Ticos’ highest-ever ranking).

If the winners have gained, the less successful teams were left counting the cost of failure in their ranking positions.

Former champions Spain have fallen from the top spot to eighth place, while Portugal (11th, down seven), Italy (14th, down five) and England (20th, down ten) have all dropped out of the top ten following their first-round exits. World Cup hosts Brazil, meanwhile, have dropped four places to seventh position.

The results of 111 international “A” matches was taken into account for the current edition of the Ranking, of which 64 were played at the World Cup in Brazil, 46 were friendlies and one was a CONCACAF continental qualifier.

The total number of international “A” matches taken into account so far this year is now 362. The next FIFA rankings will be released on 14, August this year.