The loss at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam on June 4 ended Tanzania’s hopes of reaching the finals of the African biggest football competition since 1980. Despite the defeat, the Taifa Stars saw their points tally rise from 261 last month to 300 points in the latest edition.
Uganda remain the highly ranked team in CECAFA region at 69th position, climbing up three places, while Kenya was the biggest climber in the region as they moved 43 positions to 86th spot. Rwanda dropped eight places to sit on 111th position while Burundi climbed seven places to 125th.
Argentina remains at the summit of the ranking, but only after a tumultuous month of action that resulted in plenty of movement further down.
The impact of three recent major international tournaments – the OFC Nations Cup, Copa America Centenario and UEFA EURO 2016 – is certainly plain to see in a table in which Kosovo are ranked for the first time. A total of 228 ‘A’ internationals contributed to the new order, with those big events in Oceania, Europe and the Americas especially important in propelling nations upwards.
New Zealand emerged as the month’s biggest climbers, moving up a whopping 54 places to 93rd on the back of an OFC Nations Cup victory that both qualified the All Whites for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup and furthered their FIFA World Cup qualifying ambitions. Portugal will also be heading to Russia 2017 after their shock EURO 2016 triumph, an achievement that resulted in them leapfrogging Spain and Brazil into sixth position.
There was also some small consolation for France, Portugal’s vanquished final opponents, who were among several teams to profit from impressive EURO campaigns.
While Les Bleus climbed ten places to a new position of seventh, Poland rose 11 to 16th and there were 12-place jumps for both Iceland and Croatia, who now sit 22nd and 15th respectively. Surprise semi-finalists Wales fared better still, picking up 291 ranking points – this month’s biggest tally - to advance 15 positions to 11th.
The Icelanders, meanwhile, are one of five teams to have reached their best-ever position in this latest table, along with Guinea-Bissau (75th, plus 40), St Kitts and Nevis (80th, plus 12), Kazakhstan (97th, plus 15) and Comoros (155th, plus 7).
