Kenya Stagnant At 112 In Revamped FIFA World Rankings

NAIROBI, Kenya- Kenya remained rooted 112th in the revamped Coca-Cola FIFA World Ranking as Champions France shot to the summit of the standings released for the first since the Russia 2018 World Cup on Thursday.

Stars who are preparing to welcome Ghana for their 2019 CAF AFCON qualifier on September 8 in Nairobi were among the nations that sat back to watch the latest edition of the World Cup unfold from June 14 to July 15 where Les Bleu lifted their second trophy by beating Croatia 4-2 in the final.

Tunisia who were bundled out of Russia 2018 at the group stage take over at the top of the Africa rankings ahead of fellow World Cup qualifiers Senegal, tied at 24 globally with Democratic Republic of Congo (37) who missed out on the Mundial third.

Egypt, who returned to the World Cup for the first time since 1990, registered the biggest drop of 20, falling from 45th to 65th largely due to their shock 1-2 to Saudi Arabia in their last pool game that left them winless in Russia.

Game points

Russia 2018 bronze medallists Belgium rose to second as previous leaders, Brazil slipped to third. Losing finalists, Croatia who rose 16 places and Uruguay close the global top five as FIFA rolled out the first ratings following a revamp of the formula.

“The formula, which was approved by the FIFA Council in June after a lengthy period of testing, relies on adding/subtracting points won or lost for a game to/from the previous point totals rather than averaging game points over a given time period as in the previous version of the Ranking.

“The changes, of which there are several, include the fact that inactive teams now preserve their point totals, with no devaluation of older games,” FIFA said in a report published on their website on Thursday.

“Points are dropped, however, from losing or drawing against weaker opposition, with the only exception to this rule matches in knockout rounds of major competitions such as the FIFA World Cup,” it added.

-Material from FIFA.com used to compile this report

GLOBAL TOP 10

1. France

2. Belgium

3. Brazil

4. Croatia

5. Uruguay

6. England

7. Portugal

8. Switzerland

9. Spain

10. Denmark

AFRICA TOP 10

1. Tunisia

2. Senegal

3. Congo DR

4. Ghana

5. Morocco

6. Cameroon

7. Nigeria

8. Burkina Faso

9. Mali

10. Cape Verde Island