Flames up three places on rankings
The Malawi national football team has started the year by rising three places on the Fifa rankings for January.
The Flames, who dropped 12 places in December, are now on position 106 on the latest ranking.
This is despite the Flames being inactive for good part of December.
Malawi is on position 30 in Africa and five in the Confederation of Southern Africa Football Association (Cosafa) region.
Zambia’s Chipolopolo are up six places and they have overtaken South Africa as the best team in the Cosafa region followed by Botswana and Angola while Zimbabwe is sixth.
Uganda’s impressive performance at the recent Cecafa Cup where they defeated Malawi in the quarter-finals on the way to the title victory, has seen them reaching their best-ever positions in the Fifa rankings.
Tanzania, up six places, is also among teams that have improved their positions by more than five places in the ranking.
Belgium, who finished as the best team in the world on the last ranking, have begun 2016 in the same fashion.
They are top of the table, while Argentina and Spain have also held onto their respective second and third positions.
“The confederation leaders for the first ranking of 2016 mirror those of December’s ranking. Belgium, Argentina, Côte d’Ivoire, Mexico, Iran and New Zealand hold onto continental bragging rights for the time being. Fifteen games from December 2015 and one “A” match from 2016 have been evaluated for the latest edition,” Fifa website reported yesterday.
