Harambee Stars group photo before their friendly match against DR Congo on March 26 at the Kenyatta Stadium in Machakos. PHOTO/Timothy Olobulu
NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 10- Despite not being in action, the national football team Harambee Stars moved up two places in the latest FIFA rankings released on Thursday to sit 82nd with 412 points.
Kenya had slumped 10 places from previous ranking of 74th after their loss to minnows Sierra Leone in the opening fixture of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations Qualifier (AFCON) away in Freetown.
Harambee Stars’ hopes of rising further will depend on whether the Football Kenya Federation will secure a friendly match during the next FIFA friendly window in September.
Uganda remains the best placed East African country having moved a place up to 73rd while Rwanda have scaled up eight places, moving to 119th courtesy of their win over Tanzania in the CHAN 2018 qualifiers last month.
Tanzania on the other hand has dipped six places to 120th same as Ethiopia, Kenya’s opponents in the 2019 AFCON qualifiers who have moved a massive 16 places to 120th.
Burundi has moved down 11 places to 132nd while Sudan have moved 12 places up to 152nd.
Continentally, Egypt remains the best placed African country despite dropping one place to 25th. DR Congo, Senegal and Tunisia are second third and fourth respectively while African champions Cameroon retain fifth spot and have gone one slot up to 35th.
Namibia are the continent’s and world’s best movers having gone up 20 places to 136th.
worldwide, Brazil have finally reclaimed their top seat on the throne of world football after moving one spot up to dislodge world champions Germany.
Argentina remains third while Switzerland has gone up one place to fourth, followed by Poland.
