Rwanda have dropped eight places from 103rd to 111th in the latest FIFA/Coca-Cola ranking released on Thursday at the FIFA headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland. The slip is largely due to a home 2-3 loss to Mozambique on June 4 at Amahoro national stadium in 2017 AFCON Group H qualifiers. Amavubi also dropped in the CECAFA region to third place behind Kenya, the highest climbers in the region (in 86th globally having improved 43 places) and Uganda, in position 69, who climbed three places. Tanzania (123rd) are fourth followed by Burundi (125th) with Ethiopia in the 132nd place. South Sudan are in 153rd place, while Djibouti and Somalia are last (205). Speaking to Ferwafa.rw on Thursday, Amavubi head coach Johnny McKinstry said, “With the OFC Nations Cup, Copa America Centenario and UEFA EURO 2016, seeing many games being played in the last month, it was expected that we would see a lot of movement in the ranking around us.” There was no change in the top ranked African teams with Algeria (32nd), Cote d’Ivoire (35th), Ghana (36th), Senegal (41st) and Egypt (43rd) in the top five. Likewise, globally, the top five nations remain unchanged with Argentina, Belgium, Colombia, Germany, and Chile taking the top 5 in that order, while newly crowned European champions Portugal climbed to the sixth position from eighth with beaten finalists France 7th. editorial@newtimes.co.rw
