Haiti leads the way in end-of-year rankings

KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Haiti will end the year on top of the Caribbean Football Union rankings.

The Haitians led the way among the region’s nations in the final FIFA World Rankings for the year, holding their position at the summit they obtained two months ago, following a successful spell in the qualification for next year’s CONCACAF Gold Cup.

They finished ahead of Curaçao that created waves in the sport this year with their meteoric rise. The tiny Dutch nation secured several positive results in the Gold Cup qualifiers to rise an extraordinary 76 places in the World rankings, making the top 10 in the Movers-of-the-Year list.

With very few matches since the release of the last rankings, there have been few significant changes with no movement inside the top five which is completed by the traditional powers of Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago, along with St. Kitts & Nevis.

There has been a shake up in the rest of the top-10 however, with Cuba plunging 26 places in the World rankings, the worst of any nation, putting them out of the CFU top bracket and into 11th place.

Antigua & Barbuda, although tumbling 11 places, the second worst behind the Cubans; along with the Dominican Republic, Guyana and Puerto Rico maintain their place in the CFU top-10, but Suriname has been the beneficiary rising to the 10th spot.

The Guyanese and 16th place St. Lucia were the best movers in the region over the last month, both advancing three places in the World rankings.

The next rankings will be published on January 12.

CFU-Latest rankings

(FIFA World Ranking and its positional change in brackets)

  1. Haiti (73, down 4)
  2. Curacao (75, unchanged)
  3. Jamaica (77, down 1)
  4. Trinidad & Tobago (78, unchanged)
  5. St. Kitts & Nevis (80, unchanged)
  6. Antigua & Barbuda (93, down 11)
  7. Dominican Republic (128, down 2)
  8. Guyana (132, up 3)
  9. Puerto Rico (144, up 1)
  10. Suriname (150, up 1)
  11. Cuba (151, down 26)
  12. Barbados (155, unchanged)
  13. Grenada (158, down 1)
  14. Aruba (160, down 1)
  15. Dominica (174, down 1)
  16. St. Lucia (177, up 3)
  17. St. Vincent & the Grenadines (179, down 2)
  18. Bermuda (187, unchanged)
  19. United States Virgin Islands (195, unchanged)
  20. Montserrat (199, unchanged)
  21. Cayman Islands (200, unchanged)
  22. Turks & Caicos Islands (201, unchanged)
  23. British Virgin Islands (204, unchanged)
  24. Anguilla (205, unchanged)
  25. Bahamas (205, unchanged)