Namibia still in position 159 on Fifa rankings

NAMIBIA remained stuck in position 159 of the Fifa rankings that were released by the world football governing body yesterday.

Namibia’s national team last played in a Cosafa Castle Cup knock-out match against Botswana, which they lost on penalties, in April this year. The national team has been inactive for most of 2004 after being knocked out of both the 2006 World Cup and the African Nations Cup qualifiers.Earlier this year, the side played two friendlies before taking on Botswana.The side engaged Lesotho in Maseru and a selected team drawn from regional players who competed in The Namibian Newspaper Cup.Fifa’s standings are based on a statistical analysis of countries’ results over eight years, weighted according to how recently the matches were played, the strength of the opponents and the importance of each match.So far, there are no plans from the Namibia Football Association (NFA) to engage the team in friendly matches in the immediate future.The performance of the national team has been dwindling rapidly since their successful campaign during the African Nations Cup campaign way back in 1998 in Burkina Faso.Namibia has seen a large exit of players to professional clubs in South Africa this year, apart from the well-established professionals who were picked up after the 1998 tournament.Eight Namibians are now playing professional football in South Africa, while four are playing in Europe.Players in South Africa are Ricardo Mannetti (Bush Bucks), George Hummel, Henrico Botes, Mohammed Ouseb (all Moroka Swallows), Paulus Shipanga, Richard Gariseb and Danzyl Bruwer (all Wits University).Notable players in Europe are Collin Benjamin, who plays for Hamburg in Germany, Razundara Tjikuzu, Geoffrey Roman, Dumisa Jantze (Duisburg FC, Germany) and Oliver Risser (Stuttgart FC, Germany).Meanwhile, Reuters reports that France have slumped to their lowest position in Fifa’s world rankings since winning the World Cup in 1998.France, who also won the European title in 2000, are ranked in ninth place with Portugal after dropping two places this month.Playmaker Zinedine Zidane announced this month he was coming out of international retirement to play again for France, who are struggling to qualify for the 2006 World Cup.World champions Brazil (837 points) still lead the rankings ahead of Argentina (782) in second and the Netherlands (780) in third place.The national team has been inactive for most of 2004 after being knocked out of both the 2006 World Cup and the African Nations Cup qualifiers.Earlier this year, the side played two friendlies before taking on Botswana.The side engaged Lesotho in Maseru and a selected team drawn from regional players who competed in The Namibian Newspaper Cup.Fifa’s standings are based on a statistical analysis of countries’ results over eight years, weighted according to how recently the matches were played, the strength of the opponents and the importance of each match.So far, there are no plans from the Namibia Football Association (NFA) to engage the team in friendly matches in the immediate future.The performance of the national team has been dwindling rapidly since their successful campaign during the African Nations Cup campaign way back in 1998 in Burkina Faso.Namibia has seen a large exit of players to professional clubs in South Africa this year, apart from the well-established professionals who were picked up after the 1998 tournament.Eight Namibians are now playing professional football in South Africa, while four are playing in Europe.Players in South Africa are Ricardo Mannetti (Bush Bucks), George Hummel, Henrico Botes, Mohammed Ouseb (all Moroka Swallows), Paulus Shipanga, Richard Gariseb and Danzyl Bruwer (all Wits University).Notable players in Europe are Collin Benjamin, who plays for Hamburg in Germany, Razundara Tjikuzu, Geoffrey Roman, Dumisa Jantze (Duisburg FC, Germany) and Oliver Risser (Stuttgart FC, Germany).Meanwhile, Reuters reports that France have slumped to their lowest position in Fifa’s world rankings since winning the World Cup in 1998.France, who also won the European title in 2000, are ranked in ninth place with Portugal after dropping two places this month.Playmaker Zinedine Zidane announced this month he was coming out of international retirement to play again for France, who are struggling to qualify for the 2006 World Cup.World champions Brazil (837 points) still lead the rankings ahead of Argentina (782) in second and the Netherlands (780) in third place.