Chronicle Editor
Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Sports Reporter
The Warriors continue making headlines under new coach Zdravko Logarusic, albeit for the wrong reasons, after they dropped the most points in the latest Fifa/Coca-Cola world rankings released on Monday.
Zimbabwe shares that statistic with Uganda after the two teams dropped by four rankings, with the Cranes of Uganda slidding to 83rd in the world and 17th in Africa, while the Warriors are now the 112th ranked country in the world and 26th in Africa.
Under Loga, the Warriors remain winless in 540 minutes of football, losing four matches and drawing two; one being a friendly against Malawi.
They lost 1-3 to Algeria in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in Algeirs before holding the reigning African champions, ranked third in Africa in the latest rankings, to a 2-2 draw in Harare.
There was a nightmarish outing in Cameroon for the Chan finals when the Warriors lost all their group matches to Cameroon (0-1), Burkina Faso (1-3) and Mali (0-1).
The Warriors’ next Afcon qualifier opponents Botswana are ranked 146th and 43rd in the world and Africa respectively, while another Group H opponent Zambia are 90th in the world and 23rd in Africa respectively.
A total of 43 full internationals, including one played in December 2020, were taken into account for the latest rankings.
The standout tournament has been Chan where a total of 32 games took place. These fixtures as well as the other 11 games played have been classified as friendlies, because only players competing in the national championships of the participating countries are eligible to take part in Chan.
This new ranking version, which came into effect in 2018 and developed by Fifa, is named “SUM” as it relies on adding/subtracting points won or lost for a game to/from the previous point totals rather than averaging game points over a given time period as in the previous version of the world ranking.
The points, which are added or subtracted, are partially determined by the relative strength of the two opponents, including the logical expectation that teams higher in the ranking should fare better against teams lower in the ranking.
The next rankings will be released on April 8.
The formula for the SUM algorithm is as follows: P = Pbefore + I * (W – We)
Pbefore: Points before the match
I: importance of match
– 5 Friendly matches played outside of International Match Calendar windows
– 10 Friendly matches played during International Match Calendar windows
– 15 Group phase matches of Nations League competitions
– 25 Play-off and final matches of Nations League competitions
– 25 Qualification matches for Confederations final competitions and for Fifa World Cup final
competitions
– 35 Confederation final competition matches up until the QF stage
– 40 Confederation final competition matches from the QF stage onwards; all Fifa Confederations Cup matches
– 50 Fifa World Cup final competition matches up until QF stage
– 60 Fifa World Cup final competition matches from QF stage onwards
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