Harambee Stars move two places in the latest FIFA ranking despite ban

Harambee Stars coach Engin Firat (3rd L) with part of technical bench and players on bench during their last CAF World CUP qualifier group stage fixture against Rwanda at Nyayo national stadium in Nairobi on November 15, 2021. [Stafford Ondego, Standard]

Kenya’s Harambee Stars has moved two places in the latest FIFA ranking released on Thursday.

Harambee Stars who are in position 102 from the 104 last March made a positive advancement despite currently serving a ban from the world football governing body.

Kenya is now ranked 102 globally with only Trinidad and Tobago and Lebanon separating them from a place in the top 100.

Kenya has also improved on the CAF sub-section of the FIFA Rankings moving up from 23rd in the continent to 22nd, piping Madagascar who had a disastrous start to the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier.

The last time Harambee Stars took to the field was the 2-1 win over Rwanda in the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier with the victory marking their only triumph in the qualifiers.

Brazil remain world number one after an unbeaten qualification campaign that saw them play 17 games and register only three draws in the process with Belgium coming second while Argentina, France and England round up the top five.

The Teranga Lions of Senegal are number one in Africa and now the 18th best team in the world.

Behind Senegal are Morocco, while Tunisia are the third-best team in Africa.

Behind Nigeria are Cameroon, Egypt, Algeria and Mali in fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth place, respectively.

The Pharaohs were placed 32nd in the last World Football governing body ranking sitting pretty in the fourth position in the African nations list.

Since then, Egypt played three games, two of which were in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers (against Guinea and Ethiopia) and the last was against South Korea in a friendly encounter.

However, things went south from there as the Egyptians suffered a shocking 2-0 defeat to Ethiopia in the 2nd round of the AFCON qualifiers before facing a humiliating defeat against South Korea who won the friendly clash 4-1.

Consequently, Egypt dropped from the 32nd to the 40th place in the FIFA ranking, moving down to sixth place among CAF nations.

The Super Eagles of Nigeria have dropped one position and are now the 31st best team in the June ranking.

The Jose Peseiro’s trained side are currently the 4th best team in Africa.

However, Brazil is the number one best team in the world, followed by Belgium, Argentina, France, England, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal and Denmark, making the top 10.

Others that made the list from 11-20 positions are Germany, Mexico, Uruguay, USA, Croatia, Switzerland, Colombia, Wales and Sweden.