Tanzania Daily News (Dar es Salaam)
Daily News Reporter/ Agencies
13 April 2011
Tanzania has made a significant progress in the FIFA world ranking after moving to the 112nd position, according to the latest ranking released by the world soccer governing body on Wednesday.
The country has accumulated 267 points – 32 more from last month’s 235th and consequently scaled nine places up from the 121st position it held in the previous ranking.
A 2-1 victory that the national soccer team, Taifa Stars, garnered over Central African Republic (CAR) in the latest African Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier Group D match played at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam last month, looked to have significantly contributed to Tanzania’s improvement in the world ranking.
CAR who held the 112nd position in previous ranking have now dropped two positions down to 114th after managing 263 points. Stars are expected to play the CAR in the return leg match of the qualifiers away between June 3 and 5 this year.
Morocco, who are also in the group D of the qualifiers, have dropped slightly from the ranking after going down six places to 72th spot with 445th points, while Algeria, the other member of the group, made a significant improvement after moving 15 places to 40th, up from the 55th position in the previous ranking after garnering 609 points compared to 539 points previously.
Uganda is still the highest ranked East African country at the 84th position with 402 points and has moved two positions from the previous ranking. Other East African countries, Kenya (124th) and Rwanda (123rd) have slightly moved up but Burundi (148th) dropped four places.
Spain and the Netherlands team they defeated in the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa Final continue to stride clear atop of the ranking, thanks to victories in UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying. There was, however, significant movement below them on the latest instalment of the global ladder.
Brazil (3rd, up 2) have reclaimed a podium position, while Germany (4th, down 1) and Argentina (5th, down 1) have lost ground. Meanwhile, Italy (9th, up 2) have returned to the top ten after an absence of seven months.
The 2006 world champions’ good form continued last month with victories over Slovenia, their main rivals in the EURO 2012 qualifiers and Ukraine. Italy’s progress is at the expense of Greece, who have slipped to 12th following two months in the top ten.
There were also some major movers in the top 50 of this month’s Ranking, with Israel (33rd, up 25), Belgium (37th, up 25), Albania (50th, up 23) and Algeria (40th, up 15) making the biggest climbs of the teams in the top half-century.
Four teams – Montenegro (24th, up 1), Albania, Libya (58th, up 13) and Antigua and Barbuda (100th, up 1) – are currently in their highest-ever position since the launch of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking in 1993.
124 international matches have been played since the last edition of the Ranking five weeks ago, which has doubled the total number of games played in 2011 to 248. Of these 124 matches, 50 were qualifiers for confederation championships (29 in UEFA, 21 in CAF). The other 74 games were friendlies.
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