Warriors crash heavily down the Fifa ladder

According to the statistics released by the international soccer body, the Zimbabwean team is among the countries that have slipped the heaviest among the 205 countries that make up the world football family.

The Warriors are now placed 106 in the world down from 99 when the respected monthly rankings were last updated by the international football controlling body.

The Warriors have also dropped on the African football rankings as they are now placed 27 down from 20 on February 15.

This comes from the unexpected February 29 defeat by little Burundi in Bujumbura which has also seen Zimbabwe being overtaken by the previously lowly ranked neighbours Malawi, Mozambique, as well as by Botswana and Uganda.

Interestingly, the direction in which the Warriors are heading is just the opposite of the year 1993 when they were ranked the seventh best team in Africa and 40th top in the world under the coaching guidance of the late German mentor Reinhard Fabisch.

Burundi on their part benefitted heavily from their unexpected win over Zimbabwe, climbing 11 places up the ladder and are now pegged at number 122 in the world.

The Ivory Coast remain the continent’s top African football team, followed by Ghana while Algeria are still clinging to their third position, and so, are reigning Africa champions Zambia still in fourth.

Spain maintained their position at the top of the rankings while the Netherlands and Germany swapped positions with the Netherlands moving into second position.

The focus though remains on the Warriors.

With their next competitive game being against Burundi in June and the cash strapped Zimbabwe Football Association always singing that they do not have money for friendlies during Fifa approved dates, the chances are that the Warriors will soon be ranked amongst the weakest teams not in the world but on the continent.

The rankings play a very important role especially this time of the World Cup qualifiers when countries choose highly ranked teams for friendlies to give them strong opposition in their preparations.