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Harambee Starlets move 10 places up Fifa rankings

By DAVID KWALIMWA December 23rd, 2016 1 min read

The national women’s football team has improved ten places to position 122 on the updated Fifa rankings released on Thursday.

This improvement is directly attributed to the Harambee Starlets performances in 2016.

In the last 12 months, the David Ouma coached team defeated Algeria to secure a historic qualification to the Women’s Africa 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 by a single goal margin to Tanzania in the final.

TOP RANKED NATION

Thereafter, the Starlets lost to Cameroon in consecutive friendlies, before recovering to defeat Egypt.

But the team endured a tough outing at the Cup of Nations, losing all three group fixtures to Ghana, Mali and eventual champions Nigeria.

Nigeria are the top ranked African nation 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.