The 155th place is another negative record as it is now the worst ranking in the history of the Macedonian national football team.
The home defeats by Israel and Italy in the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers forced Macedonia to fall yet again, reaching the lowest position in its history. If the September’s 146th place was the worst since April’s 141st, now November will be recorded as the new negative record. Ranked around the likes of Grenada, Myanmar, Barbados, Mauritius, Lesotho etc, Macedonia is also one of the worst European teams placed just eight places above the bottom.
But before the next rankings to be released, Macedonia risks another historic downfall as must face Spain away in another World Cup qualifier.
Five years ago, more precisely in June 2011, we were deeply concerned as we fall on the 103th place. Now we are getting closer to the very bottom of the FIFA rankings.
…
150. Lesotho 201
151. Mauritius 194
151. Puerto Rico 194
153. São Tomé and Príncipe 197
154. Grenada 172
155. Macedonia 167
156. Myanmar 165
157. Barbados 163
158. Maldives 161
159. Papua New Guinea 152
160. Aruba 147
…
Top 10 in the FIFA World Rankings for October 2016:
1. Argentina 1621
2. Germany 1465
3. Brazil 1410
4. Belgium 1382
5. Colombia 1361
6. Chile 1273
7. France 1271
8. Portugal 1231
9. Uruguay 1175
10. Spain 1168
FIFA Rankings for the Balkan countries (actual ranking in brackets):
1. (16.) Croatia 1027
2. (25.) Turkey 843
3. (28.) Bosnia and Herzegovina 807
4. (34.) Romania 746
5. (42.) Greece 656
6. (43.) Serbia 650
7. (47.) Albania 619
8. (52.) Slovenia 595
9. (56.) Montenegro 570
10. (89.) Bulgaria 395
11. (155.) Macedonia 167
12. (164.) Kosovo 135
FIFA Rankings for UEFA members (actual ranking in brackets, showing only the bottom 15):
41. (101.) Finland 337
42. (116.) Latvia 306
43. (119.) Estonia 299
44. (122.) Georgia 276
45. (125.) Armenia 270
46. (130.) Luxembourg 252
47. (139.) Cyprus 228
48. (155.) Macedonia 167
49. (164.) Kosovo 135
50. (173.) Moldova 119
51. (178.) Malta 97
52. (183.) Liechtenstein 81
53. (201.) San Marino 17
54. (203.) Andorra 11
55. (205.) Gibraltar 0
FIFA Rankings for members of Group G in 2018 World Cup qualifying (actual ranking in brackets):
1. (10.) Spain 1168
2. (13.) Italy 1082
3. (47.) Albania 619
4. (79.) Israel 450
5. (155.) Macedonia 167
6. (183.) Liechtenstein 81
The next rankings will be published on November 24 2016.