Malawi National Football Team has maintained position 123 on Fifa’s world rankings.
According to the rankings that the world football governing body released Thursday, Malawi amassed 1,144 points during the period under review.
This comes two weeks after the Flames held Guinea to a 2-2 draw in a dead-rubber 2024 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifier at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe about two weeks ago.
The Flames have remained static on the position since July, having moved up from position 126.
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They had just shared the spoils with Ethiopia then, following a barren stalemate in the same qualifiers.
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Malawi last moved eight places on the rankings from 123 to 115 in 2021 after qualifying for the delayed Afcon finals which took place in Cameroon early last year.
Flames Technical Manager James Sangala said the rankings sometimes are not a true reflection of teams’ performances.
“I do not think the draw against Guinea had an impact. Otherwise, we would have seen an upward movement on the ranking. Whenever we draw or lose against lower-ranked teams, we always drop. But we got a point against a team that is above us and there has been no movement,’’ Sangala said.
In the qualifiers, the Flames finished third with five points from six matches after losing three matches, winning once and drawing twice.
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Former Flames midfielder Sherry Msuku said Malawi should fight to break into the top 100 in the world.
“We need to beat big teams for us to earn more points for rankings. Otherwise, it will be difficult for us to get where we want to be,’’ Msuku said.
The Flames are scheduled to play in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers where they have been drawn in Group H alongside Tunisia, Liberia, Equatorial Guinea, Namibia and Sao Tome and Principle.
Morocco remain Africa’s top-ranked team with 1,658 points and 13th in the world whereas Senegal are second on the continent with 1,597 points and a 20th-place world ranking.
World champions Argentina have also maintained top spot with 1,851.41 points whereas France and Brazil are second and third with 1840 and 1837.61 points, respectively.
England and Belgium occupy fourth and fifth position, respectively.
