Kenya remained stuck at position 105 on 1210 points for the third month in a row in the latest Coca-Cola FIFA World Ranking released on Thursday as Belgium ended the year as the top football nation.
Kenya’s Harambee Stars have not played for the last two months with their qualification for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations confirmed by CAF earlier this month following the disqualification of Sierra Leone and end the year as the 23rd nation on the continent.
The top-10 African nations led by Senegal also did not move in the final standings of 2018 with Uganda (75th) the highest-placed country in East Africa.
Coca-Cola FIFA World Ranking is released and Kenya remains stuck at position 105 on 1210 points for the third month in a row.
Check out the latest rankings: https://t.co/GyCSXuWUxM#FIFARANKING #SportPesaNews pic.twitter.com/YF9UtBOpim
— Sportpesa News (@SportpesaNews) December 20, 2018
Belgium will begin 2019 at the top having preserved their single-point lead over World Cup winners France at the table’s summit and emerged as the Ranking’s ‘Team of the Year’.
Les Bleus’ stellar 2018 does not go unrecognised though, with the world champions established as the year’s ‘Best Mover’, having gained more points (165) since December 2017 than any other nation.
The French lead that particular table from Uruguay (7th, unchanged) and Kosovo (131st, unchanged), who have registered net gains of 151 and 133 points respectively.
The Kosovans, meanwhile, are the biggest climbers in terms of ranks gained, having moved up 46 places since this time last year, comfortably ahead of the respective 31 and 30-place rises registered by Kuwait (158th, unchanged) and El Salvador (70th, unchanged).
It has been a good year in general for Europe, which now accounts for 31 of the top 50 teams – two up from December 2017.
FIFA WORLD RANKINGS
The final world rankings of 2018 have just been released.
• Belgium retain first spot
• France just 1 point behind in 2nd
• Big nations Germany, Argentina & Italy drop out of the top 10
• Nigeria remain in 44th position ?? pic.twitter.com/HN7tr9r0iU— WakaBet (@WakabetNG) December 20, 2018
Asia has also boosted its top-50 numbers from two to three, with these rises coming at the expense of Africa, which saw its representation drop from eight to five.
The Ranking’s latest edition shows precious few changes, however, having been impacted by just eight ‘A’ matches in a quiet month for international football.
The top 100, in fact, is almost entirely unaltered bar for a single-place swapping of positions between Oman (82nd, up 1) and Zambia (83rd, down 1).
The month’s biggest movers are Guyana (177th, up 3) whose CONCACAF Nations League qualifier draw against Barbados (162nd, down 3) in September was recently reclassified as a forfeit win due to the Barbadians fielding two ineligible players.
But there are also modest rises for the likes of Zimbabwe (114th, up 1), Sierra Leone (115th, up 1), Kazakhstan (119th, up 1), Guinea-Bissau (120th, up 1), Indonesia (159th, up 1), Belize (160th, up 1) and Nepal (161st, up 1.)
World top 10
1. Belgium, 2. France, 3. Brazil, 4. Croatia, 5. England, 6. Portugal, 7. Uruguay, 8. Switzerland, 9. Spain, 10. Denmark
Africa top 10
1. Senegal, 2. Tunisia, 3. Morrocco, 4. Nigeria, 5. Democratic Republic of Congo, 6. Ghana, 7. Cameroon, 8. Egypt, 9. Burkina Faso, 10. Mali