Malawi down nine places on women’s rankings
Malawi women national football team has slid down nine places to 139th on the latest Fifa rankings released on Thursday.
The Maggie Chombo-Sidik coached side has also dropped nine places to 23rd on continental rankings.
Chombo-Sidik has since attributed the slide to the poor showing at the recent Cosafa Women’s Championship in South Africa where they lost two games and won only one.
Malawi lost to South Africa’s Banyana Banyana 6-0 and Swaziland 2-0. They beat Madagascar 2-0.
Said Chombo-Sidik: “I believe the two losses have had a big impact on our fall. Nevertheless, we will pick ourselves up, but that will require keeping the team active by playing friendly matches and participating in tournaments.”
In the Cosafa bloc, Malawi are ranked seventh, behind South Africa (50), Zimbabwe (97), Zambia (116), Namibia (120), Mozambique (137) and Lesotho (138).
Banyana Banyana, who retained the Cosafa Cup after beating guest side Cameroon in the finals, are among the best movers and are now ranked 50th in the world. In Africa, they are now fourth.
Nigeria (38) are the top-ranked team on the continent followed by Ghana (47) and Cameroon (49).
USA remains the top-ranked team in the world followed by Germany and England.
The women football rankings are released every four months. n
