Scorpions Stagnated in FIFA Rankings

Idle since the end of February, The Gambia national team remained at No. 113 in the monthly FIFA World Ranking released Wednesday.

In the Africa zone, the Scorpions remained stagnated on 30th position. The position is largely attributed to the lack of action for the team, which is under the tutelage of Gambian tactician, Peter Bonu Johnson, in the past month.

In fact, only eight international matches were played around the world the past month and there was only one change in the top 30 – Argentina moved up one spot to No. 9, displacing Denmark.

There was not much change in the African rankings this month, with the top seven all remaining the same. Ivory Coast still command the ranking, followed by Ghana, Algeria, Mali, Zambia, Gabon and Libya. Tunisia are in eighth, Egypt at nine and Morocco complete the top 10.

In comparison to last month, there were only a few changes to the latest edition of the FIFA world ranking. In many countries, the national championships are drawing to a close, which explains the small number of matches played at international level: only eight, all of which were friendlies, unfolded over the past month.

Spain continue to top the global ladder ahead of Germany and Uruguay, followed by the Netherlands and Portugal. The only change in the top 30 has been Argentina’s ousting of Denmark to occupy ninth place.

The composition of the top 50 remains unchanged: with 28 teams, UEFA remains the best represented confederation in the top 50, followed by CONMEBOL (9), CAF (7), CONCACAF (3) and the AFC (3). In 130th place, New Zealand are Oceania’s top-ranked team.

FIFA said the next update, due on June 6, would likely be influenced by a spate of European friendlies ahead of the Euro 2012 championship, as well as several 2014 World Cup qualifiers outside Europe.