The Algerian national team declined in the latest FIFA rankings for the month of September. Djamel Belmadi’s team was ranked 33rd in the world, but this month it found itself falling one place to 34th place.
This ranking came after the FIFA dates for the month of September, where the Algerian national team faced its Tanzanian counterpart in Annaba, in the last game of the CAN Côte d’Ivoire 2023 qualifiers, which ended in a negative draw. Then traveled to Dakar and achieved victory against the Senegal national team in a friendly match with a goal by Fares Chaibi against Senegalese goalkeeper Edouard Mendy.
Although captain Riyad Mahrez’s teammates occupied 34th place, they secured their place as first place in the next CAN draw, alongside the Moroccan team, which ranked 13th, Senegal, which ranked 20th, Tunisia, which came in 29th place, and the Egyptian team, which was only one place behind the Algerian team, and occupied the 35th position.
Some football specialists and analysts believe that the Algerian national team has often been wronged by FIFA’s classification, despite achieving victories against strong competitors, while others believe that the Algerian national team must win the official matches that bring it together with teams that have a good classification. Whereas winning the friendly matches against a team such as Senegal may not allow you to advance if you draw at home in an official match against a team with a bad rating, such as Tanzania.
From the point of view of many, the FIFA classification is important in continental and international competitions, as it gives precedence to the strong and best-ranked teams to avoid each other in the group stage, and others believe that the reality of the pitch is what differentiates between the strong and the weak.
