Victor Wanyama, (center) celebrates with team mates in a past match.
Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) 2019 first rankings of have been revealed, with 2018 World Cup winners France staying in second spot, while Bafana Bafana have dropped two places and Qatar climbing the highest positions following the recent tournament.
The Harambee stars of Kenya have dropped a single slot to settle at position 106 in the fifa rankings with 1210 points, seven behind Libya, who have also dropped a spot.
Belgium stayed at the top by just one point over world champions France, while Brazil sit in third spot on the podium, ahead of Croatia and England.
Portugal are sixth, followed by Uruguay, Switzerland and Spain respectively, before Denmark complete the top 10.
Football giants Argentina (11), the Netherlands (14), Germany (16) and Italy (18) remain outside the 10 highest-ranked nations.
Africa’s best-positioned team, Senegal, dropped one spot to position 24 after Iran climbed seven places following their run to the AFC Asian Cup semi-finals, where they were beaten 3-0 by Japan. Senegal remain the top African team in the latest rankings.
Newly-crowned Asian Cup champions Qatar have also climbed to 55th spot following their miraculous journey in the just concluded tournament.
The Leone Stars, who were unable to honour their last three matches of qualifying Group F due to a Fifa ban on their football association, have been kicked out of the series with just one round of games to go.
The results of their two games played thus far – against Kenya (2-1 win) and Ethiopia (1-0 defeat) – have been nullified, leaving only three teams in the group.
Sierra Leone’s hopes of playing at the Afcon for the first time since 1996 was dealt a blow in October when Fifa slapped the Leone Stars’ FA with an indefinite ban from football for governmental inteference less than 48 hours to their matchday three fixture against Ghana.