World’s football governing body FIFA has announced the rankings for February 2021 with Uganda dropping the hardest of all nations by four slots to position 83 with now 1301 points from 1307 points.
The Cranes are now 17th in Africa and the drop comes due to the poor performance at the just-concluded CHAN championship in Cameroon where Uganda only managed one point from the three group games and failing to make it to the knockout stage.
Neighbours Kenya stagnated at 104, Tanzania also stagnated at 135, Burundi came at 138 and Rwanda at 133.
Uganda’s next AFCON 2022 qualifiers opponents; Burkina Faso came at 58 and 10th on the continent while Malawi is at 123 and 32nd on the continent.
The top five countries in Africa are; Senegal (20), Tunisia (26), Algeria (31), CHAN champions Morocco (33), and Nigeria (36).
Belgium, France, Brazil, England, Portugal, Spain, Argentina, Uruguay, Mexico and Italy remain the top ten in the world in that order.
CHAN losing finalists Mali climbed the highest by 3 slots to 54th while Uganda together with Zimbabwe were the worst movers, dropping down by 4 ranks each. Zimbabwe dropped to 112.
The format used by FIFA is named SUM as it 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 World Ranking.
The points which are added or subtracted are partially determined by the relative strength of the two opponents, including the logical expectation that teams higher in the ranking should fare better against teams lower in the ranking.
The next FIFA World Ranking will be published on 15th April 2021.
