Flames rise 3 places onFifa rankings
The Flames’ performance at the just ended 2023 Hollywoodbets Cosafa Cup has helped them to move up three places on Fifa Coca- Cola World Rankings.
The Malawi National Football Team finished fourth after qualifying for the semi-finals for the first time in 20 years.
According to the rankings released by Fifa yesterday, Malawi has risen from position 126 to 123 and is among three teams to make headway. The others are Kuwait and Bangladesh.
The statement reads: “A total of 62 matches have been played since the last edition of the Fifa Coca-Cola World Ranking in June, with 25 of those matches taking place in the final competition of the Concacaf Gold Cup. The other 37 matches were in the South Asian Football Federation Championship
(Saff) Cup and Cosafa Cup.
“The tournaments have had very little impact on the ranking, although three of the participating teams, Kuwait, Bangladesh and Malawi, have made some headway.
“The two tournament winners India and Zambia have gained points but made little to no progress in the ranking.”
Football Association of Malawi competitions and communications director Gomezgani Zakazaka said Fifa has now started considering the Cosafa Cup matches.
He said: “Previously, the Cosafa Cup matches were not considered in rankings. However, this year we filled Fifa tier A matches forms which meant that they are now considered and carry weight on the rankings.”
Interim coach Patrick Mabedi said the Flames have the potential to do better.
“This is good news to our country and I still believe we can do better on the rankings,”
On the road to the semi-finals
Malawi won all their group matches, beating Zambia 1-0, Seychelles 2-0 and Comoros 2-0 .
The Flames drew one-all against Lesotho in the semi-finals and went on to lose 3-0 on post-match penalties.
They also drew 0-0 with South Africa in the third-place play-off and lost again 5-3 on post-match penalties.
Meanwhile, there are no changes in the top 10, made up solely of European and South American teams.
Argentina remain at the top
