Africa

African Comment: 2010 Is The Platform To Address Africa's Poor Assault On The FIFA Rankings

Africa should consider holding a quick football round table discussion to address their teams’ performance in the FIFA rankings, and perhaps 2010 is the right time to kick-start their onslaught on the top ten.

Nov 23, 2009 3:30:20 PM

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Ghana - Ivory Coast - Michael Essien

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When one looks at the FIFA rankings, it is obvious that African football is in a serious crisis, and the continued ignorance of this is like digging an abyss for our beautiful game.

Post 2010 should be the beginning of a new era, an African team should attempt to climb to the top of the rankings. Sound impossible? Well, it is difficult, but not impossible.With the World Cup in our own African backyard I say the time is right for all of the involved African nations to get as far as they can in the tournament and surprise a few favourites in the process.

Cameroon, I know you are so indomitable, but why do you sit and watch the Spaniards dominate the world with their counterparts Brazil and Italy? African football is on the rise and we need our teams to stand up and do the business in next year's event.

The release date for the latest FIFA World Rankings was November 11, but it was postponed to November 20 so that the final play-off matches for the World Cup (played on November 14 and 18) could be included in the calculation for the November rankings.

This month’s rankings will be used to determine the seeds for the South African competition next summer. The World Cup draw will take place on December 4 in Cape Town, South Africa. Clearly the European teams are in a comfortable position compared to their African counterparts, aside from the hosts, as far as the seeding is concerned.

South Africa are continuing their free-fall in the world table, ranked 86, the country’s lowest ever position in 15 years. This puts Bafana Bafana behind the little known Haiti and Oman. That’s the reward of changing coaches like a Formula One driver changes gears.

Some would, however, argue that these rankings do not relate to the teams' performances or strength and should not be taken seriously. Kagiso Dikgacoi, who was denied a work permit for the UK last summer, has such a viewpoint. Teams ranked outside the top 70 will struggle to get players into the Premier League, and Dikgacoi was a victim of such an issue.

The same rankings are used by both CAF and FIFA to determine the qualification seeding for major tournaments, like the 2012 African Cup of Nations. If these ranking were the stock exchange, I would certainly put my money on Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Cameroon. Cameroon are ranked 11th in the world and Ivory Coast are sitting comfortably on position 16.

South Africa are the second lowest ranked country who will play at the World Cup, just six places ahead of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, who are ranked 91. But by virtue of being the hosts, South Africa will automatically qualify for Pot 1, which consists of all the world’s best.

As it is, Bafana Bafana face the possibility of playing against strong countries like France, Slovakia and Portugal. Pot 3 is made up of top countries such as Mexico, Ivory Coast, Serbia and Paraguay.

Pot 4 with Nigeria, Slovakia, Honduras, Ghana and Japan will also not be easy. Algeria, who are making a first return to the world show-piece since 1986, will face a similarly tough challenge.

The 2010 FIFA World Cup is going to be one of the toughest in the history of the tournament. Football is the mission, South Africa is the stage and 2010 the time for Africa to launch a massive assault on the FIFA rankings.

Clyde Tlou, Goal.com

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