Harambee Starlets up 10 places in Fifa ranking
What you need to know:
- USA still world’s top-ranked women’s team while Nigeria lead African countries
- Kenya rises to 122nd globally after maiden appearance in Africa Cup of Nations
The national women’s football team has risen 10 places to position 122nd on the latest Fifa rankings released on Thursday.
This improvement is directly attributed to the Harambee Starlets performances in 2016.
In the past 12 months, the David Ouma-coached team upset Algeria to secure a historic qualification to the Africa Women’s Cup of Nations.
The team also had a good run in at the women’s Cecafa Cup in Uganda, progressing all the way to the final after defeating the likes of Zanzibar, Ethiopia, Uganda and Burundi, only to lose 2-1 to Tanzania in the final.
Thereafter, the Starlets beat Egypt 1-0 in between two loses against Cameroon. And then, the team endured a tough outing at the Cup of Nations, losing all their group fixtures to Ghana, Mali and eventual champions Nigeria.
In a related development, Nigeria are the top ranked African nation on the charts at position 35, closely followed by Ghana (45), Cameroon (46), Papua New Guinea (48) and Equatorial Guinea (50).
Bigwigs USA remain the top ranked team in the world, with Germany, France, Canada and England occupying the remaining top five positions in that order.
The national men’s team has also registered marked improvement this year, and are ranked 89th on the latest standings released on Thursday, eleven places better than its placing at the start of 2016
