Warriors unchanged on Fifa rankings

Sports Reporter

ZIMBABWE men’s national football team remained rooted in 129th place out of 210 in the global football rankings, according to the latest statistics released by FIFA yesterday.

The Warriors were also unchanged in the continental rankings, where they occupy 38th position in July. Zimbabwe are yet to recover from the plunge they experienced last month despite winning two matches at the COSAFA tournament played during the recent FIFA window.

They beat Comoros 1-0 before accounting for Zambia 2-0. They then lost 2-0 to Kenya.

However, the weight of the COSAFA tournament games does not impact much on the rankings because they carry less importance according to the calculations.

The next rankings will be released on 19 September, just days after the commencement of the 2025 AFCON qualifiers. Morocco are still the highest-ranked team on the continent despite falling two places on the global rankings. Senegal, Egypt, Cote d’Ivoire, and Nigeria are among the top five countries in Africa.

Elsewhere, Argentina tightened its grip on the top of the FIFA world rankings after successfully defending its CONMEBOL Copa America crown. France, in second place, are still their closest challengers, after reaching the semi-finals of UEFA EURO 2024. Newly crowned European champions Spain are now in third place after climbing five players up the ladder, while beaten finalists England moved one place up into fourth. They leapfrogged Brazil who are now the world number five.