TT 52nd in world football

ZURICH: Jamaica moved up to 48th in the world while retaining their Caribbean number one spot in FIFA’s May ratings released yesterday. Jamaica, who re-entered FIFA’s top-50 last month after more than a year outside of that range moved four spots clear of their nearest regional rivals Trinidad and Tobago on the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) list. Caribbean Cup holders Trinidad and Tobago, who led the CFU rankings for over three years from February 2000, slipped one place to 52nd, with Cuba (56th) within striking distance of the region’s top spot.

Jamaica, the 1998 World Cup qualifiers, held FIFA’s 31st ranked South Africa to a 0-0 draw in South Africa three weeks ago to enhance their standing. Haiti, 80th in the world, and Barbados (94th) are the only other CFU teams in FIFA’s top-100. There is no positional change in the CFU’s top-10 with St Lucia sixth at 108th in the world, followed by St Kitts and Nevis (117th), Grenada (138th) and Suriname (145th), and St Vincent and the Grenadines (152nd). Five-time world champions Brazil remain a clear world number one, ahead of France and Spain at joint number two. Germany are fourth, followed by Argentina, The Netherlands, England, Turkey, and Mexico, with United States joint 10th with Denmark.

RANKING OF CFU TEAMS (World ranking in bracket)
1 Jamaica (48th); 2 Trinidad and Tobago (52); 3 Cuba (56); 4 Haiti (80); 5 Barbados (94); 6 St. Lucia (108); 7 St Kitts/Nevis (117); 8 Grenada (138); 9 Suriname (145); 10 St Vincent and the Grenadines (152); 11 Dominican Republic (155); 12 Antigua/Barbuda (157); 13 British Virgin Islands (166); 14 Cayman Islands (172); 15 Guyana (175); 16 Bermuda (176); 17 Dominica (177); 18 Netherlands Antilles (179); 19 Bahamas (189); 20 Aruba (193); 21 Anguilla (197); 22 US Virgin Islands (198); 23 Puerto Rico (200); 24 Turks and Caicos Islands (203); 25 Montserrat (204).