Gambia down 20 places on FIFA rankings
- Wednesday, 04 July 2012
- Written by Modou Lamin Beyai
Gambia have dropped twenty places on the monthly FIFA world ranking table with the changes influenced greatly by both the UEFA EURO 2012 and Oceania Football Confederation [OFC] Nations Cup.
The Scorpions of The Gambia are now placed 128th in the world and 40 in Africa as the July edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking showed major changes. Gambia’s point accumulation which stood at 320 in the past month has also dropped to 251 points.
In the period under review, the Scorpions played three international competitive games, losing two and drawing one. The Scorpions played out a 1-1 draw against Morocco at the Independence Stadium in Bakau on June 2nd, lost 2-1 to Tanzania at the Benjamin Mkapa National Stadium on June 10th and then a 4-1 defeat to Algeria at the Stade Mustapha Tchaker on June 15th which eliminated them from the 2013 African Cup of Nations qualifiers.
European champions, Spain maintained their top position with Germany moving second while Uruguay dropped to third. The surge in points for European teams pushed Brazil down six place to No.11 and its worst position since the rankings began in 1993. The 2014 World Cup host is hurt by not playing any competitive matches recently.
A total of 133 international matches have been played in recent weeks, made up of 31 EURO 2012 matches, 60 qualifiers for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, 15 CAF Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, and 27 friendlies.
All of these contests have clearly reshuffled the global ladder, with only 22 of the 208 ranked teams holding their position from the previous month, while 85 teams have moved up the table and 101 have dropped at least one place.
The next ranking will be released on August 8th.