For the first time this year, Malawi National Football Team, the Flames climbed up three places on Fifa rankings to 131 from 134 in the world.
According to the latest Fifa rankings released on Thursday, the Flames accumulated 1129 points.
This follows the Flames’ impressive performance in the 2025 TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers dead-rubber matches in which they beat Burkina Faso 3-0 at Bingu National Stadium after a goal-less stalemate against Burundi in Ivory Coast.
Football Association of Malawi (Fam) Competitions and Communications Director Gomezgani Zakazaka was not readily available Friday.
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For the past 11 months, the Flames have been on a downward plunge following poor performance in all competitions.
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However, the Flames biggest fall was when the team dropped 26 places in the world to 133 from 107 in 2006.
Yet, Malawi’s best ever ranking was position 53 in the world whereas the team’s lowest ranking was 138 in the world in 2008.
Malawi finished last in the 2025 Afcon qualifiers with four points from six matches, behind third placed Burundi on goal difference.
Senegal and Burkina Faso qualified for Afcon finals with 16 points and 10 points respectively.
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Sports analyst Parry Chinyama said the Flames deserved to rise following the performance against Burkina Faso and Burundi.
“It was expected after the team played well in the last two matches. This is good development but we need to push to be in the top 100,” he said.
Since January this year, the Flames lost seven matches, won two and one draw in all competitions.
The Flames lost 4-0 and 1-0 to Senegal, 3-1 to Burkina Faso and 3-2 to Burundi in Afcon qualifiers.
They lost 1-0 to Equatorial Guinea in the 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifiers but managed to beat lowly ranked Sao Tome and Principe.
In March this year, Malawi lost 4-0 to Kenya and 2-1 to Zambia during the Four Nations Tournament held at BNS.
Morocco remain the best ranked team in Africa whereas Senegal and Egypt are second and third respectively. Algeria are fourth in Africa.
Argentina are the top ranked team in the world followed by France and Spain on second and third position respectively.
