Warriors move up Fifa rankings

Innocent Kurira

THE Warriors have moved up two places in the Fifa world rankings after their participation in the Four Nations Tournament in Malawi.

They are now ranked 122nd globally out of 210 countries with 1 143.66 points. The team won one of their two matches in the tournament, beating Zambia 6-5 on penalties, but lost 1-3 to Kenya in the final.

However, their position on the Caf listing remained unchanged at 33rd. Nigeria, which recently reached the finals of the TotalEnergies Caf Africa Cup of Nations, climbed to 30th in the global rankings, securing a place among the top three teams in Africa, just behind Senegal and Morocco.

The Atlas Lions occupy 13th spot in the world and retained pole position on the Caf list followed by Senegal who are 17th in the world.

African champions, Cote d’Ivoire move up to 38th in the world and fifth on the continent, while Egypt are fourth in Africa and 38th in the world.

Tunisia and Algeria maintained their positions at 41st and 43rd respectively on the global rankings, while Mali has made a significant leap of three places to secure the 44th spot. The top three nations in the world are Argentina followed by France and Belgium.

The Warriors are set to play Lesotho and South Africa when the 2026 Fifa World Cup Qualifiers Group C matches resume in June and may have to secure a foreign stadium as their home ground.

Norman Mapeza’s Warriors hosted Nigeria in their first home game in Rwanda in November last year after Caf deemed all local stadiums not fit to host international matches.

The Warriors will face Lesotho and South Africa in their next World Cup  Qualifiers amid indications that little progress has been made on renovating the available stadiums.