Back and Next - Back and NextGambia fly in latest rankings
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Despite their failure to progress to the final round of the joint 2010 World Cup and African Nations Cup qualifying series, the Gambia Scorpions have scaled a new height in the latest rankings released by the world football’s governing body (Fifa) yesterday.
The Scorpions have climbed four places and stand at 69th in the global rankings - their best-ever ranking in history. The Gambia also bettered their African standing by one place leaping from 17th to 16 position. The Gambia’s present standing broke their previous highest Fifa placing of 73rd position in the March 2009 rankings.
The nation’s rapid progress in the rankings is attributed to Scorpions heroic displays in the first phase of joint qualifiers, where they narrowly missed out on qualification to the next stage due to CAF’s controversial formula of determining the second-placed teams. Cameroon and Nigeria, the top two African sides in Fifa's rankings, have dropped slightly in the tables. Both have suffered from indifferent starts to the final phase of 2010 World Cup qualifying. Cameroon were beaten by Togo and Nigeria were held to a draw by Mozambique. But third-placed Ghana have climbed slightly and Togo and Gabon have shot up the global tables.
Cameroon are now 19 in the Fifa global tables, having dropped three places overall. Nigeria are down six places to 30, but remain Africa's second-placed team. Ghana hover one place behind the Super Eagles, having gone up three spots to 31 overall with a narrow win in their most recent qualifying match. The big winners of this recent round of games are Togo and Gabon.
Togo benefit from their thrilling victory over Cameroon to shoot-up 26 places in the Fifa tables. They now lie at 65 in the world and 12 in Africa. Gabon are up 15 spots after their victory away to Morocco and now sit at 48 in the world and six in Africa. The Fifa rankings take account of matches played over the last two years, with more recent results given greater weight.
Gambia’s Fifa Ranking History
Date position
Apr 2009 69
Mar 2009 73
Feb 2009 73
Jan 2009 75
2008 88
2007 117
2006 134
2005 164
2004 154
2003 138
2002 143
2001 148
2000 155
1999 151
1998 135
1997 132
1996 128
1995 112
1994 117
1993 125
The Scorpions have climbed four places and stand at 69th in the global rankings - their best-ever ranking in history. The Gambia also bettered their African standing by one place leaping from 17th to 16 position. The Gambia’s present standing broke their previous highest Fifa placing of 73rd position in the March 2009 rankings.
The nation’s rapid progress in the rankings is attributed to Scorpions heroic displays in the first phase of joint qualifiers, where they narrowly missed out on qualification to the next stage due to CAF’s controversial formula of determining the second-placed teams. Cameroon and Nigeria, the top two African sides in Fifa's rankings, have dropped slightly in the tables. Both have suffered from indifferent starts to the final phase of 2010 World Cup qualifying. Cameroon were beaten by Togo and Nigeria were held to a draw by Mozambique. But third-placed Ghana have climbed slightly and Togo and Gabon have shot up the global tables.
Cameroon are now 19 in the Fifa global tables, having dropped three places overall. Nigeria are down six places to 30, but remain Africa's second-placed team. Ghana hover one place behind the Super Eagles, having gone up three spots to 31 overall with a narrow win in their most recent qualifying match. The big winners of this recent round of games are Togo and Gabon.
Togo benefit from their thrilling victory over Cameroon to shoot-up 26 places in the Fifa tables. They now lie at 65 in the world and 12 in Africa. Gabon are up 15 spots after their victory away to Morocco and now sit at 48 in the world and six in Africa. The Fifa rankings take account of matches played over the last two years, with more recent results given greater weight.
Gambia’s Fifa Ranking History
Date position
Apr 2009 69
Mar 2009 73
Feb 2009 73
Jan 2009 75
2008 88
2007 117
2006 134
2005 164
2004 154
2003 138
2002 143
2001 148
2000 155
1999 151
1998 135
1997 132
1996 128
1995 112
1994 117
1993 125
Author: By Nanama Keita
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