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Kenya’s Harambee Stars have dropped two places to 107th in the world in the latest Fifa rankings.
In the 211-nation rankings released on Thursday, Sebastien Migne’s charges, who had climbed three places to 105 on June 14, have lost six points. The East Africans are now on 1201 points.
The drop has been caused by the disappointing campaign at the just concluded Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) staged in Egypt between June 22 and July 19 where they exited the 24-nation contest at group stage.
Kenya lost 2-0 to eventual champions Algeria and 3-0 to the runners up Senegal and managed one win, which was a 3-2 victory against neighbours Tanzania in their Pool C matches.
Senegal remain the top-ranked country on the continent but rose two places to 20th globally. The Teranga Lions are followed by Tunisia whose 1-0 defeat at the hands of Senegal in semi-final stage has seen them drop four places to 29th worldwide.
Nigeria’s bronze medal finish has catapulted them 12 places up to 33rd in the world. Djamel Belmadi’s Algeria is the biggest climber in Africa as they have moved from 68 to 40th in the world.
Morocco and Egypt have improved six and nine spots respectively to 41st and 49th globally.
Ghana remain unchanged in the top-50 bracket. Cameroon and DR Congo were not so lucky in the latest rankings. The Cameroonians, who were the defending champions in Egypt but bowed out in the round of 16 after Nigeria hit them 3-2, are down two positions to 53rd, while the Congolese are three places back after slumping seven places.
Ivory Coast (five places up to 57th in the world) complete the top-10 teams in Africa.
At position 80 in the world, Uganda stayed ahead of the pack in the Cecafa region. Kenya are next at 107th after falling two places. Sudan and Rwanda have ascended one place and three spots to 129 and 133 respectively.
Tanzania, who returned to Afcon for the first time since 1980, have tumbled six places to 137th. The Tanzanians are scheduled to welcome Kenya in the African Nations Championship (Chan) qualifying match on July 28 in Dar es Salaam. They lost all their matches in Egypt against Senegal (2-0), Kenya (3-2) and Algeria (3-0).
Burundi’s first-ever appearance at the Afcon finals has seen them fall 14 places to 148th worldwide. They did not score a goal in their identical defeats against Nigeria and Madagascar (1-0) and Guinea (2-0) at group stage.
Ethiopia stayed at 150 in the world. South Sudan are one place down to 169, Djibouti, Somalia and Eritrea occupy the last three positions.
There are a lot of changes in the top-10 countries in the world. Belgium are still on top of the rankings while Copa America champions Brazil have replaced France in second spot. World Cup winners France are third.
