PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) – As expected, Jamaica continue to lead the way in the first edition of the Caribbean Football Union rankings for the New Year.
This follows the release of the latest World rankings by the sport’s World governing body FIFA, which revealed that the Digicel Caribbean Cup champions had dipped one place in the World to 59th. The Reggae Boyz remained ahead of Cuba, who maintained their 62nd place in the World rankings, and Trinidad & Tobago, who eased-up two places to 87th in the World.
There are no significant changes in the CFU top-10, but Guyana have dropped two places in the World rankings to 111th, and hold onto the CFU seventh spot.
All the others have either maintained their World ranking, or made slight improvements with Antigua & Barbuda (103rd, up 3) achieving their highest position, since the introduction of the World rankings, to remain at sixth in the CFU.
There has been no movement further down the CFU rankings, with only two teams losing ground on the World stage.
St Vincent & the Grenadines have dropped two places to 144th, and the British Virgin Islands have fallen one spot to 177th. They however, remained at positions 13 and 18 in the CFU rankings.
For once, there was almost no action at national team level in most confederations around the World. Only 35 friendly matches have been taken into account in the current ranking, 23 of which were played before the turn of the year.
The next World/CFU rankings will be published on February 2.
– Following are the Caribbean Football Union rankings for January 2011 (World rankings in brackets):
1. Jamaica (59)
2. Cuba (62)
3. Trinidad & Tobago (87)
4. Haiti (90)
5. Grenada (94)
6. Antigua & Barbuda (103)
7. Guyana (111)
8. Suriname (115)
9. St. Kitts & Nevis (121)
10. Dominica (129)
11. Barbados (130)
12. Puerto Rico (131)
13. St. Vincent & the Grenadines (144)
14. Netherlands Antilles (150)
15. Cayman Islands (156)
16. Dominican Republic (167)
17. Bermuda (172)
18. British Virgin Islands (177)
19. St. Lucia (181)
20. Turks & Caicos Islands (186)
21. The Bahamas (194)
22. Aruba (199)
23. United States Virgin Islands (200)
24. Anguilla (203)
24. Montserrat (203)