BY DANIEL NHAKANISO
AS uncertainty looms over their future in international football following last week’s suspension of the Zifa board by the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC), the Warriors’ freefall in the FIFA world rankings continues after they slumped to their worst rating in five years on Friday.
Africa’s second stage of qualification for the 2022 World Cup ended last Tuesday with 10 countries advancing as group winners to the final play-off round, where they will battle one another for the five tickets to go to Qatar.
Following the teams’ performances and results, Fifa released the monthly ratings with the top five African countries expected to face the lowest-ranked countries in the upcoming qualifiers.
According to Friday’s release, Zimbabwe have paid a heavy price for their disastrous 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign after they slumped by three places on the global ranking to number 121.
This is their lowest position in five years since reaching their lowest ever ranking of 131 in the world in June 2016.
Zimbabwe’s senior national men’s football team has also lost ground on the African rankings after slumping three places to number 31.
The Warriors endured a World Cup qualifying campaign from hell after finishing the group stage qualifiers without a win after collecting a single point from six matches to finish bottom of the group which included eventual group winners Ghana, South Africa and Ethiopia.
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Zimbabwe’s hopes of avoiding the wooden spoon suffered a blow in the recent November international window after losing 1-0 to South Africa and drawing 1-1 against Ethiopia.
The results saw them finishing at the bottom of Group G with just one goal from six matches.
It could get even worse for the Warriors ahead of the release of the end of year FIFA world rankings on December 16, with Zimbabwe’s future in international football facing a bleak future following the suspension of the Zifa board.
After last week’s developments Fifa could either support SRC’s move to suspend the Zifa board or ban Zimbabwe from international football because of government interference.
A Fifa ban would result in the Warriors being barred from participating in the Africa Cup of Nations tournament to be held in Cameroon early next year.
