Latest FIFA rankings sees Ireland drop to 67th position

The new FIFA world rankings do not make happy reading for the Boys in Green as Ireland have slipped a further two places in the list finding themselves in 67^th place, sandwiched between UAE and Burkina Faso, sides who are hardly footballing heavyweights.

While a world away from their best ever ranking of sixth in the world, confidence still remains with the management team of Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane who have Ireland still well in the hunt for Euro 2016 qualification.

The latest rankings proved a mixed bag for our neighbours and qualification rivals alike; World champions and Group D leaders Germany comfortably hold onto the top spot with 300 more ranking points then their nearest rivals Argentina and Columbia while Belgium and the Netherlands round out the top five.

Poland have moved up one place to 40^th while Georgia remain unchanged in 126^th place while the qualification group whipping boys Gibraltar are not yet a FIFA member so they do not find themselves on the list.

The “auld enemy” England have dropped two places to 15^th despite leading their Euro 2016 qualifying group by six points and Scotland have also dropped two places and are down to 38^th place even after defeating the Republic of Ireland 1-0 at Celtic Park in their last game.

Michael O’Neill’s Northern Ireland have fallen four places down to 51^st but still maintain a sizable 16 place lead over the Republic, helped no doubt by some commendable performances in their recent fixtures including a 2-0 win over Greece last year.

Wales are the only one of our neighbours to retain their previous position and lie 34^th being assisted by superstars Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey who have fired the Dragons to their current standing.

After the recent African Cup of Nations it was obvious that the biggest movement would be in the AFC confederation, with the victorious Ivory Coast side jumping up eight places to 20^th.

Semi-finalists and hosts Equatorial Guinea charged a whopping 69 places up the ranking to 49^th place and Libya who couldn’t be fired into the tournament by former LOI striker Eamon Zayed slumped to 113^th after dropping 35 places in the rankings.

The next FIFA rankings will be updated again on the 12^th of March.