Kenya remained stagnant 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.
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.
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.
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