Story by Lawrence Trusida
African giants, Morocco are the biggest climbers in the latest FIFA rankings following their memorable performance at the recent FIFA World Cup in Qatar where they finished fourth.
On the back of their impressive run to the last four of the World Cup, Morocco have moved up to 11th on the latest world rankings.
The Atlas Lions are this year’s highest climbers, having collected no fewer than 142 points over the last 12 months.
The World Cup semi-finalists are now the highest ranked African nation followed by Senegal in 19th, Tunisia ranked 30 and Cameroon on 33rd position.
Meanwhile, Brazil remained the highest ranked nation despite being booted out of the World Cup at the quarter-finals stage, while new world champions Argentina have risen to second.
A Seleção hold a narrow lead over La Albiceleste, who would have jumped ahead of their neighbours and rivals had they beaten France in last Sunday’s World Cup final in normal time.
Dethroned champions, France have moved into third while Belgium moved to fourth with England completing the top 5.
The Warriors remained rooted in 125th position having been inactive in the period under review.
The latest ranking are based on a new model that took effect in August 2018.
This new version named “SUM” relies on adding and subtracting points won or lost rather than averaging game points over a given time period as was the case in the past.
The points which are added or subtracted are partially determined by the relative strength of the two opponents, including the logical expectation that teams higher in the ranking should fare better against teams lower in the ranking.
