FIFA rankings not true reflection of national teams' form – Augustine Arhinful
Former Black Stars striker Augustine Arhinful has criticized the validity of the FIFA World Rankings, arguing that they fail to accurately represent the true form of national teams.
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His comments come in light of Ghana’s persistent decline in the rankings over the years, which he attributed to the team’s poor performance in major tournaments such as the African Cup of Nations and recent friendlies under coach Otto Addo.
Arhinful emphasized the importance of focusing on building a strong team rather than being fixated on FIFA rankings with Ghana occupying 14th in Africa and 68th in the world currently.
With Ghana’s upcoming matches against Mali and the Central African Republic in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers scheduled for June, he urged the current technical team to prioritize the development of a formidable squad.
"Obviously, the ranking will tell you Ghana is dropping because of the recent happenings. That is to say, the nation’s cup performance, as well as the recent friendly matches that we played but to me, the ranking really may be an issue for us," he said.
"I think we need to concentrate on how we build the team going forward, which is most important because before the nation’s cup, Ghana was ranked ahead of some nations, but then we all went to Ivory Coast and we saw what those nations were able to do."
"So the ranking, yes, sometimes could be good. It could also make it complacent, because 2006, before the World Cup, I think Czech Republic were number two then but we went into the World Cup and we beat them, and they didn’t even qualify from the group stage. So the ranking, yes, it could be good, but the focus should be how the team is going forward," he added.
Nigeria, finalists in the recent TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations, ascended to the 30th position globally, securing a spot among Africa’s top three, trailing behind Senegal and Morocco.
Leading the African standings, the Atlas Lions of Morocco hold the 13th rank worldwide, with Senegal following closely at 17th globally, securing second place on the continent.
Cote d’Ivoire, the reigning African champions, climbed to the 38th position globally, securing the fifth spot in Africa, behind Egypt.
Tunisia and Algeria, two renowned North African teams, maintained their positions at 41st and 43rd respectively in the global rankings. Mali made significant progress, advancing three places to 44th.
At the top of the global standings are reigning as world champions, Argentina followed by France and Belgium in that order.
