Sierra Leone has fallen eighteen places in the latest FIFA world rankings, from 95 to 113, leaving the Leone Stars in the dismal 31st position in Africa. Of course, this is to be expected after almost a year off due, in part, to the Ebola crisis. The Stars didn’t play… so their ranking dropped dramatically. Brazil topped the ranking for the first time in seven years, replacing Argentina.
The Leone Stars last competitive football match was way back in September 2016, when they were eliminated by the former African champions, Ivory Coast in Bouake, during the qualifiers of the 2017 African Nations Cup.
The country’s highest ever ranking was in August 2014 when they moved up to 50th and 7th in Africa.
Sierra Leone’s next competitive game should be in June this year. They’ll play for the African Nation cup qualifiers for Cameroon 2019 when they will host Kenya. They have been placed in Group F alongside Ghana Black Stars, Kenya, and Ethiopia.
The football players said that the horrible ranking of Sierra Leone is not a surprise to them. The game is still not be played. We blame the stakeholders and the football association for depriving them of playing the game.
The Pharaohs of Egypt are the best-ranked African team in 19th position in the world followed by Senegal 30th and 2017 African Champions Cameroon (33), Burkina Faso 35th and Nigeria 40th respectively.
By Bernard Turay
Friday April 07, 2017.