October 2009 FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking: Malawi up 15

Please note that the values are in reverse order. 90 = Higher ranking. 112 = Lower ranking.

October 2009 FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking out. Earlier this year (March) Malawi moved down (dropped) in ranking because they lost 2-0 to Mozambique in February. They dropped further in ranking in April after losing to Ivory Coast 5-0 in March. They moved up in ranking in June because they beat Rwanda 2-0 in May. Despite losing to Burkina Faso 1-0, and Guinea 2-1 in June Malawi moved up in rankings in July because other teams that were ahead of Malawi dropped in rankings. For example, Rwanda dropped from 96 to 113, Cape Verdes Island dropped from 84 to 114 and Zimbabwe dropped from 101 to 116. In August Malawi moved up because they beat Swaziland 3-1 in July. Last month Malawi were ranked # 105 but they have moved up 15 places to # 90 because of the 2-1 win over Guinea (now 71, last month = 55) on 5 September 2009 and the 1-1 draw against Ivory Coast (now 19, last month = 20) on 10 October 2009. On the Continental (Africa) rankings Malawi are on # 19, just one place behind Senegal (18) and one place ahead of Zambia (20). On the World rankings they are now just one place behind Senegal (89) and one place ahead of Korea DPR (91).

By the way, Korea DPR have qualified for the 2010 World Cup. Doesn’t that show you that the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Rankings are not exactly fool proof? Currently, 23 teams have booked a place in the FIFA World Cup finals, 13 of which are ranked in the top 20. Five of the other teams in the top 20 face a play-off for a place in South Africa, while Croatia and the Czech Republic are the only teams in the top 20 who have failed to qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Malawi’s Highest FIFA Ranking: 53 (December 1992)
Malawi’s Lowest FIFA Ranking: 138 (December 2007)
Malawi’s Best Mover: 27 (July 2006)
Malawi’s Worst Mover: -15 (August 1993)

Malawi will play a crucial game against Burkina Faso (now 55, last month 52) on November 14, 2009. According to the FIFA/Coca-Coal World Ranking Calculation method a win over Burkina Faso will move Malawi from 90 to about 74. A win will also mean that they will qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations. If they qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations (which they will?) they may end up beating the likes of Cameroon (now 14, highest-ranked African team), Egypt (Once “beaten” twice shy?), Ghana, etc. The wins will move Malawi up by about another 20 places. Also factor in the COSAFA Senior Challenge Cup games to be played over the next two weeks. Malawi’s quarter final game will be against Mozambique (World Ranking = 84, In Africa = 16) on 25 October 2009.