By Chernor Alimamy Kamara
The Sierra Leone Men’s national football team rose to 122nd from 126th in the latest FIFA world rankings after securing four points from two matches in the recently played African World Cup qualifiers in June.
A slow improvement also saw the national team move from 35th in Africa to 34th place.
Neighbors Liberia made the biggest climb in the latest FIFA Rankings, jumping 10 spots from 152 to 142.
After securing a 2-1 win over Djibouti in Leone Stars home match played in Morocco and a 2-2 draw against Burkina Faso in Bamako, in June’s 2026 World Cup qualifying matches, the team moved up to 122nd, just behind Comoros, Togo and Sudan.
During the June international break, Leone Stars led by Head Coach Amidu Karim secured a win and a draw in their last two qualifying games. Despite all the skepticisms surrounding his appointment, Karim has started showing encouraging signs with the team now playing attacking football.
Sierra Leone achieved their best-ever ranking in August 2014 when the team moved up 14 places, entering the top 50 in the world for the first time in its history.
Meanwhile, in Africa, Morocco, Senegal, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Tunisia, Algeria, Cameroon, Mali and South Africa make the top ten.
In the Global rankings, the top three remain the same, with Argentina 1st, France 2nd and Belgium 3rd maintaining their positions.
However, the rankings behind them have shifted, as Brazil in the 4th position climbed one place up and England in 5th dropped one place down as they swapped places.
Portugal 6th, the Netherlands 7th and Spain 8th retained their spots in the top ten, while Croatia move one place up to 9th, surpassed Italy who dropped one place down to 10th, but they still hold onto a place among the leading teams.
Copyright © 2024 Politico (26/06/24)
