Jordan drops to lowest ranking since 2009 in FIFA Rankings

By Aline Bannayan - Nov 24,2016 - Last updated at Nov 24,2016

AMMAN — The national football team dropped five spots and dipped to 109th in the latest FIFA Rankings issued on Thursday.

It’s the lowest ranking in 2016 and the worst since 2009 as Jordan also dropped out of the Asian top 10 trailing Iran (30), South Korea (37), Japan (45), Australia (48), Saudi Arabia (56), Uzbekistan (62), UAE (64), China (83), Qatar (88) and Syria (94). Argentina is still No. 1 ahead of Brazil, Germany Chile, Belgium, Columbia, France, Portugal, Uruguay and Spain. Jordan’s best ranking was 37th in 2004 while the lowest ranking was 152nd in 1996.

At its latest board meeting, the Jordan Football Association (JFA) terminated the contract of coach Abdullah Abu Zam’eh soon after the squad’s latest unimpressive results in three friendlies played in November in which they lost to Uzbekistan 1-0, held Iraq and Lebanon to a goalless draw as part of their training agenda for the 2019 Asian Cup qualifiers.

Earlier this year, Jordan lost to the Moroccan second tier team 2-1, drew 1-1 with Oman, 0-0 with Bahrain, 1-1 with Lebanon and lost to 3-2 to Qatar. The squad’s last tournament was the King’s Cup, an international football tournament organised in Thailand where Jordan beat the UAE 2-1 but lost 2-0 to the hosts in the final.

Observers have been scrutinising the plan and path to the Asian qualifiers as the past year saw four coaches take over in less than a year but Jordan was eliminated from 2018 World Cup qualifiers. The JFA entrusted Abu Zam’eh in the interim period and the coach recalled players from the Olympic squad and shifted focus towards a younger line-up that will compete in the Asian qualifiers kicking off in March 2017.

During 2016, Jordan played 13 matches, including 11 friendlies coming out a winner in three matches, drawing in five and losing five. Jordan scored 18 goals and allowed 16 in. Only two were official matches in which Jordan beat Bangladesh 8-0 but lost to Australia 5-1 in the double qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup and 2019 AFC Asian Cup.

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