Kenya drops to position 110 in latest Fifa ranking as Argentina tops rating
By Lucky Oluoch, December 1, 2023
Kenya’s men national football team Harambee Stars has dropped to position 110 in the latest FIFA rankings, while the women team Harambee Starlets has moved up to position 147.
International matches were played all over the world in November 2023, with FIFA World Cup 26 qualifiers taking place in Africa, Asia and South America. The other confederations’ schedules included UEFA EURO 2024 qualifying matches, Concacaf Nations League 2023-24 encounters and the Pacific Games 2023. These matches have all had a significant effect on the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking, including on the make-up of the podium.
Despite the fact that Harambee Stars stretched Gabon in their 2-1 loss in Libreville and walloped Seychelles 5-0 three days later, the effort did not reflect in the latest rankings. The best ever ranking position Kenya has enjoyed is position 68, while the lowest ranking was 137.
Their women counterparts moved two positions up to 147 after eliminating Cameroon in a two-legged qualifying match. Starlets highest ranking ever has been position 108 and their lowest ever ranking was 149.
Meanwhile, lthough Argentina, the highest ranked team still lead the way ahead of France (2nd), England (3rd, up 1) are now in the trio of teams at the front of the pack, followed by Belgium (4th, up 1), who have also climbed one place. Although Brazil (5th, down 2) have lost ground following back-to-back defeats by Colombia and Argentina, they have clung on to their place in the top 5.
The Netherlands (6th, up 1) and Portugal (7th, down 1) have traded places in the top 10, which is once again completed by Spain (8th), Italy (9th) and Croatia (10th). Uruguay (11th, up 4) have made solid progress, but they have to be content with a place just outside the top 10.
La Celeste are not the only team to have climbed the ranking as they are joined by the likes of Tunisia (28th, up 4), Ecuador (32nd, up 4), Romania (43rd, up 5), Slovakia (45th, up 5) and Greece (47th, up 4), the latter re-entering the top 50 together with Côte d’Ivoire (50th, up 2).
The Comoros Islands (119th, up 9), meanwhile, enjoyed an even better month with wins against the Central African Republic and Ghana, and have two reasons to celebrate as they are now in 119th place, their highest-ever position. Kosovo (101st, up 4) may not have climbed as many positions as the Comorans, but the Kosovans are also now higher in the ranking than ever before.
Guinea-Bissau (103rd, up 7), Azerbaijan (114th, up 6), Libya (120th, up 6), Malaysia (130th, up 7) and Rwanda (133rd, up 7) are the other big movers in the November ranking, which also sees the re-entry of Samoa (187th), American Samoa (188th) and Tonga (196th), who are all playing international football again following months of inactivity.