Russia 2018: Egypt win appeal for another special ranking for African qualifiers

Egyptian Football Association [EFA] have won their appeal after lodging a formal complaint to FIFA after the special June ranking for the African Qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

The special FIFA June ranking was released on Thursday, June 9, 2016 to be used in distributing the teams into the pots for the qualifiers for the African Qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup tournament in Russia.

Egypt dropped two spots in the special ranking and fell out of Pot 1 with Tunisia replacing them.

The EFA officially made their complaints to FIFA with a letter headlined:

'Complaint from the SPECIAL FIFA Coca-Cola ranking system of the African World Cup Qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia - 3rd round'

Egypt won their appeal with a letter from FIFA to the Egyptian Football Association reading:

Dear Sir and Madam,
Following some complaints received with regards to the fluctuation of the FIFA/Coca Cola ranking in the month of June and, with the aim of transparency, it was decided to proceed to establishing a special FIFA//Coca Cola ranking with a closer date to the one fixed for the draw.

Therefore, a special ranking will be established on 21st June 2016 in order to distribute the qualified teams into the different pots accordingly.

Please note that you will receive a specific communication in this respect on 21st June 2016, in which the confirmation of the pots for the 20 teams will be revealed.

We thank you for taking note and fro your cooperation.

Yours faithfully,
FIFA
Marco Villiger
Deputy Secretary General.
The Black Stars of Ghana, Algeria, Cote d'Ivoire, Senegal and Tunisia are all in Pot 1 for the draw. However, one of these teams will be replaced by Egypt after their formal appeal was successful.