Harambee Stars remain static in Fifa Rankings

What you need to know:

  • The national football team, Harambee Stars remained on position 78 in the latest Fifa rankings released on Thursday by the World football governing body.
  • Stars are on 428 points tied with Belarus, who are on the same number of points.
  • Kenya's stagnation is due to the lack of any international fixtures last month.

The national football team, Harambee Stars remained on position 78 in the latest Fifa rankings released on Thursday by the World football governing body.

Stars are on 428 points tied with Belarus, who are on the same number of points.

Kenya's stagnation is due to the lack of any international fixtures last month. Kenya did play out a goalless draw against Malawi last month in a friendly tie at the Kenyatta stadium in Machakos, but the match did not fall in the Fifa calendar.

The match saw Stars coach Stanley Okumbi use local based players as he continues to gauge his squad ahead of the rigorous qualification process for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations and next year’s Chan competition to be staged in Nairobi.

Kenya was pooled in Group F in the qualifiers, together with Sierra Leone, four-time African champions Ghana and Ethiopia’s Walia Ibex. The team will start its matches away to Sierra Leone in June this year.

The country has also retained its 16th place in the continent, one place behind neighbours Uganda, who are 72nd globally with 463 points with Tanzania down in 135.

However, Rwanda, under new coach Antoine Hey, dropped a place down to 118 despite retaining their points tally of 285.

South Sudan were the biggest movers in the region after collecting 31 points in their two back-to-back wins over Somalia in the Chan 2019 qualifiers moved them eight places up to 146. Egypt remain top of the continent with Senegal, Cameroon and Burkina Faso following in that order.

Brazil, Argentina and Germany remain top three in the globe with a largely unchanged top 100.