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Eddie Chikamhi Senior Sports Reporter

ZIMBABWE’S shock loss to Ethiopia, in a 2022 World Cup qualifier has come back to haunt the Warriors after they plunged five places down the ladder, in the latest FIFA rankings.

The senior national team, who were ranked number 108 on the previous table, continued to drift further away from the top 100, following their poor start to the World Cup qualifiers, under the guidance of Zdravko Logarusic.

Zimbabwe are now 113th placed team on the global rankings.

They also dropped two places, on the continental rankings, where they now sit on number 28.

The Warriors played two games, during the period under review, as international football returned across the globe, during the recent FIFA international window, which featured mostly 2022 World Cup qualifiers.

Zimbabwe began their campaign with a lifeless, and goalless draw against South Africa, in Group G of the qualifiers, at the National Sports Stadium.

Things got worse when they succumbed to a shock 0-1 defeat, to the group’s worst-ranked side, Ethiopia, in controversial fashion, away in Bahir Dar.

The two results saw Zimbabwe losing 10.97 ranking points.

The Warriors have now been overtaken by Guinea Bissau and Libya.

The Libyans made the best progress, across the board, after jumping 12 places, following the wins over Angola and Gabon, in their World Cup qualifiers.

The rankings were released just a few days after Zimbabwe fired coach, Loga, after a string of poor results.

At the time of his sacking, Loga had not won a game, in his last seven matches.

The Warriors had also dropped one place, in the previous rankings, released by FIFA on August 12.

ZIFA have since appointed Norman Mapeza as interim coach.

The former Zimbabwe captain is set to begin his tenure with a tough task against Group G favourites, Ghana, in back-to-back matches, in the upcoming World Cup qualifiers.

Ghana, who have also had a slow start to their World Cup campaign, following the narrow 1-0 win over Ethiopia and defeat to South Africa, by the same margin, dropped one place, on the rankings.

They retreated to number 53, in the world, but maintained their number seven place, in Africa.

South Africa were also unmoved, on their global ranking of number 73, and 13th in Africa.

Ethiopia were the only team to benefit from the group, following their win over Zimbabwe.

The East Africans moved three places up to number 134.

Senegal continue to lead the way in Africa, followed by Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco.

Belgium are still the top ranked team in the world, followed by Brazil, France and England.