Kenya drops 15 places in latest Fifa world rankings
Kenya has dropped 15 places in the latest Fifa world rankings released by the world football governing body.
The national football team is now ranked 131st globally and 40th in Africa, down from position 116 globally and 35th on the continent.
The slump can be attributed to the 2-1 loss Harambee Stars recorded against Zambia early last month in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier.
Argentina retained its position at the top of the global chart, with Germany, Belgium, Portugal and Colombia completing the top five list.
Mauritius, who are Kenya’s next opponents in the World Cup qualifiers, have moved 17 places up from September’s position 185 to 168 in the latest ranking.
Meanwhile, Gor Mahia defenders Musa Mohammed and Harun Shakava were on Thursday included in the Harambee Stars squad that is due to travel to Mauritius this weekend for the preliminary round of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers.
The two had been excluded from the initial 20-man squad that was released on Monday afternoon, triggering a strong campaign on social media against Bobby Williamson’s team selection criteria.
Stars assistant coach Musa Otieno said that Musa’s name had been erroneously excluded from the list, but that Shakava’s call up was a backup plan.
“Musa (Mohammed) was part of the plan from the very beginning. I don’t know how he was omitted but he was the proposed replacement for (Lawrence) Olum who was dropped,” Otieno said.