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Maldives goes down in FIFA Ranking
22 April 2006
Uploaded: 12:30 PM

Jameel (L) and Indian captain Bhutia in last year's SAFF championship
semi final: Maldives had a remarkable 14 position increment in FIFA
raking because of this tournament.

Male', MALDIVES - What's more vital in football than regular training and match experiences through competitive opponents. Looking at recently announced FIFA world Ranking, looks like Maldives has lost one of these factors when they go behind one position while rival Sri Lanka moved up 10 spot to move two positions above Maldives.

Recently ended AFC Challenge Cup played a vital role in Sri Lanka's increment, where they entered the final. Whereas Maldives left with no International matches since last December, after they had a disappointing end in 4th SAFF championship held in Pakistan.

All the SAARC nations other than Maldives played in AFC Challenge Cup held in Bangladesh from 1st to 16th April. Other counrtries played include Palestine, Tajikistan, Chinese Taipei, Brunei, Kyrgyztan, Philipines, Macau, Guam, and Cambodia. Tajikistan won the title after beating Sri Lanka in the final by 4-0.

AFC Asian Cup Qualifier is the another tournament Maldives lost the chance to participate. According FAM, AFC rejected the proposal submitted by them, but surprisingly they did not reveal anything about why AFC rejected their proposal or perhaps they didn't do anything to find out why it has been rejected.

Looks like Maldives will not participate in any of the international tournament this year and it is expected that their position in FIFA ranking will keep on falling through out the year.

CURRENT FIFA RANKING - SAARC NATIONS

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