Liberia Drops in FIFA’s Ranking

The Lone Star of Liberia has dropped another step on the FIFA Coca-cola ranking for September. The Nation’s Pride and Joy after their humiliating defeat at the hands of the Palangras Negras of Angola last weekend dropped to 104th place on the global ranking for this month.

Liberia also slipped to 32nd position on the continental ranking, after ending the last two months at 26 and 27 places, respectively. The Lone Star has not made any significant progress since her biggest move on the table in September 2012 with a 2-2 draw with the Super Eagles of Nigeria at the Samuel Kanyon Doe (SKD) Sports Complex in Paynesville.

Liberia moved to 98 places for the first time since 2002 in September 2012. The Country, which produced Africa and World’s Best Footballer, George Oppong Weah, has struggled to climb the ladder since she moved to 88th place during the 2002 World Cup qualifier. Ivory Coast remains Africa’s number one ranked country, but the Elephants dropped miserably on the global scene and are now seated at 119th place from 13th  spot.

The Elephants drew their last World Cup qualifiers against Morocco last weekend, even though they are through to the play-off of the competition. Ghana remains second, while the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon returned to the big 10 after months of difficult performances, and are now seated at 10th place. Algeria moved to third place, replacing Mali, who are now seated at number five, while Africa’s Champions Nigeria moved from 5th position to fourth place.

Meanwhile, the 185 matches played in the past month certainly left their marks on the current edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking. In the top ten, only Spain’s ranking remains unchanged, and the world and European champions have managed to further extend their lead at the summit, where they have reigned since September 2011.

Argentina have ousted Germany out of second place after successfully qualifying for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™. Uruguay (7th, up 5) is also among this month’s climbers, making it back into the top ten at the expense of Portugal (11th, down 4). There are currently four South American teams in the top ten.

Belgium continues to rise up the global ladder. The Red Devils are unbeaten in their Brazil 2014 qualifying campaign and, with their current ranking of sixth, have once more reached their best-ever position.

There have been many changes, not just in the upper echelons of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking, which have mainly been caused by the 86 FIFA World Cup qualifiers played in all of the confederations except the OFC over the past month.

Of the 820 total preliminary matches leading to Brazil 2014, 747 have unfolded, and nine teams – Japan, Australia, Iran, Korea Republic, Italy, the Netherlands, Costa Rica, USA and Argentina – have secured places at the tournament alongside the host nation. All matches played up to and including 10 September have been taken into account for the current edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking.