Mannetti aims for better FIFA ranking Namibia''s new top-100 International Federation of Football Associations (Fifa) ranking shows that the team is doing something right, Brave Warriors coach Ricardo Mannetti has said. Namibia moved from 118th position to 98th in the world ranking and from 45th place to 25th on the African ranking released by Fifa on Thursday.
Namibia''s all-time highest ranking was 68th in 1998.
The team has not been ranked in the top 100 since 2001. The closest it came was in July 2009 when it was ranked 101.
Speaking to Nampa recently, Mannetti said they were still chasing the record, which is 67th, and would get there slowly but surely.
“Sometimes people don''t understand the pace we are working at, but credit should be given to the players, Brave Warriors technical staff and the football association.”
Mannetti said improving the ranking was a great thing for Namibian football as a whole; huge for the development project they were working on and immense for the Namibia Football Association.
Namibia''s new ranking comes even after the team was inactive for the past two months.
The Brave Warriors'' last game was in September when they were defeated 0-2 by Senegal in the African Nations Cup qualifiers.
According to the Fifa website, any team that does well in world football wins points which enable it to climb the ranking. A team''s total number of points over a four-year period is determined by adding the average number of points gained from matches during the past 12 months.
NAMPA