Football - Seychelles remains ranked at 186th |28 December 2016

Seychelles’ position on the world football stage has not changed over the past month as the country remains in 186th place on the latest Fifa world ranking.

The latest ranking was released on December 22, where after not playing any games during the past month, our national side remain in 186th place on 78 points.

On the world stage, Seychelles are ranked above countries like Bermuda, Solomon Islands, Liechtenstein, Sri Lanka and Pakistan among others.

Meanwhile, on the African continent, Seychelles are above only Djibouti, Eritrea and Somalia, meaning we are the fourth worst footballing nation on the continent – a stat we cannot be proud of.

Seychelles’ highest ranking in 2016 was 178th achieved in April, although that remains very far from our highest ever ranking of 130th – a feat achieved in July of 2006.

Meanwhile, Argentina will finish the year as the top ranked side with 1,634 points, 90 points ahead of second placed Brazil.

The top ten is completed by Germany (1,433 pts), Chile (1,044 pts), Belgium (1,368 pts), Colombia (1,345 pts), France (1,305 pts), Portugal (1,229 pts), Uruguay (1,187 pts) and Spain (1,166 pts) respectively.

Notable sides that are outside the top ten include England (13th), Italy (16th) and The Netherlands (22nd).

In Africa, Senegal have moved ahead of Côte d’Ivoire as the top African side, lying 33rd worldwide, with the Ivoirians now 34th, followed by Tunisia (35th), Egypt (36th), Algeria (38th), Congo (48th), Burkina Faso (50th), Nigeria (51st) and Ghana (53rd), who make up the top ten.

The worst mover this month was Cuba, who fell 24 places from 125th to 151st, while the best mover was Rwanda, who climbed nine places from 101st to 92nd.

The Seychelles Football Federation was founded in 1979 and has been a member of Fifa since 1986.

S. N.