Stars Drop 9 Steps Down

Ghana's elevation into the top 20 of the FIFA world ranking lasted just one month after which the country has suffered a big fall down nine places from the 19th position recorded in the March ranking.

The latest ranking released by football's world governing body last Wednesday saw Ghana dropping to the 28th position and fourth in Africa after Cameroun (13th, up five places), Cote d'Ivoire (25th, down five places) and Nigeria (27th, up nine places).

As host of the next African Cup of Nations, Ghana is not engaged in competitive matches, hence countries just below Ghana last month made significant gains in points to move higher in the latest FIFA ranking after participating in the 2008 African Cup of Nations and EURO 2008 qualifiers.

The cumulative result of Ghana's draw 1-1 with Austria and 0-1 loss to Brazil last month was a 68-point loss from the total point build-up through a devaluation of points under FIFA's new format, hence the massive drop from the 19th to 28th position.

Nigeria, who were ranked 36th last month, on the other hand gained 130 points for a significant lift from the 36th to the 27th position after beating Uganda 1-0 in a Nations Cup qualifier last month.

Somewhat unsurprisingly, world champions Italy are back on top of the FIFA ranking to bring Argentina's brief one-month reign to an abrupt halt.

The Argentinians, who have not played since the last edition of the ranking, have slipped away slightly due to the devaluation of results from previous years, as have Brazil despite recording two victories over Chile and Ghana in friendly matches.

The next FIFA ranking will be published on May 16.