Ireland drop to 58th in world rankings

Ireland’s tumbling down the FIFA world rankings is continuing unabated, with the team now sitting in 58th in the FIFA world rankings, below the likes of Burkina Faso and Saudi Arabia.

With Euro 2024 qualification prospects dead in the water, the 2-0 loss to Greece in mid-October was enough to send Stephen Kenny’s men sliding down the charts, dropping three places since the September list of rankings.

A 4-0 win against Gibraltar was not enough to help Ireland’s stats, and is now coming ever closer to matching Ireland’s nadir on the rankings, a 70th place position in mid-2014.

A far cry from Ireland’s 6th place ranking in August 1993, Ireland has undergone a sharp decline in the rankings since Stephen Kenny took charge in 2020, with a lack of qualification for 2 European Championships and a World Cup hurting the rankings.

Ireland were in 34th spot in the rankings prior to the appointment of Kenny, beginning their decline following the failure to qualify for Euro 2020 after a penalty shootout loss to Slovakia.

The low rankings will hurt Ireland’s seedings for 2026 World Cup qualifications, with recent weak performances meaning that Ireland will be the third seed in their qualifying group.

It was a mixed month for the women’s team, with the team adjusting to life after Vera Pauw thanks to two strong wins over Northern Ireland and Hungary, but still declining to 24th in the world rankings.

At the top end of the table, reigning world champions Argentina held onto the number one slot, with France, Brazil, England, and Belgium rounding out the top 5.

It is understood that Stephen Kenny’s contract extension, which was contingent on Ireland’s involvement at Euro 2024, will be discussed at an FAI board meeting before Christmas.

Previous favourite for the job John O’Shea has been ruled out of the race after taking up the job of assistant at Birmingham City alongside Manchester United teammate Wayne Rooney, while Lee Carsley refused to be drawn into comments about switching from the England under-21 set-up to the Irish hotseat.

Steve Bruce has emerged as the bookies favourite to succeed Kenny as Ireland manager, but in the short-term, Kenny will be in the dugout for Ireland’s dead rubber qualifier against The Netherlands next month followed by a friendly at home to New Zealand.