Flames 13 places down
The Flames have, contrary to earlier report, slipped down the Fifa ranking table by 13 places—from position 95 to 108—Fifa website announced yesterday.
An earlier report of July 4 on the same website had erroneously indicated that the Flames had risen from 97 to 95.
But yesterday’s update indicate that the 2-1 defeat to lowly-ranked Zimbabwe (112) and other factors, have further knocked down Malawi to position 30 out of 52 ranked African national teams.
The Flames, who beat makeshift Uganda 1-0 in an Independence Anniversary Celebrations match on Monday this week, are placed fifth from a list of 14 Southern African sides. South Africa are the top-rated team in the region, but occupy 70th place on the world scale.
“The volatility of the ranking this month is due in part to the many matches that have been played such as 26 Copa América matches, 99 qualifying matches for the World Cup or continental tournaments, and 88 friendlies.
“The number of matches taken into account has almost doubled the amount for the year so far (477 matches in total). The other reason is that the matches from last year’s World Cup have been devalued,” www.fifa.com reported yesterday.
Algeria are ranked 19th in the world and number one on the continent.
There are 207 ranked national teams on the world chart with 2015 Copa America finalists Argentina dethroning current Fifa World Champions as the world’s top ranked team. Germany are now second.
