The Fiji Football Association needs to answer why our Digicel men’s national football team’s world ranking with FIFA has dropped to 170.

This was on the June 29, 2023 FIFA World rankings.

The answer has to come from Fiji FA president, Rajesh Patel, along with vice-presidents Aiyaz Musa, Edwin Chand and Yogeshwar Singh, who were all re-elected unopposed in last month’s congress in Suva.

This is sad for the country’s football fraternity as we can no longer claim to be a leading football nation in the region.

Fiji is one of the Pacific island nations that is ahead of the rest in the development of football facilities. We have state-of-the-art academies operating in Ba, Suva and Labasa.

This has contributed in the Fiji Under-20 side qualifying to the recent FIFA U20 World Cup in Argentina for the second time and the performance of the Fiji U19 girls after booking a semifinal spot in the OFC U19 Women’s Championship on Saturday night.

Also, at that congress, the decision makers at Fiji FA spoke at length of all developments regarding the construction of a stadium in Lomolomo, Lautoka, to hold international matches.

However, the biggest worry is that despite of what is done, this is not reflected on where it should be- a better FIFA world ranking for our national football team.

Fiji’s rankings has dropped to 170 while Solomon Islands, is far ahead of us at 133. Also, ahead of us is Papua New Guinea at 159, New Caledonia 161, Tahiti 162 and Vanuatu 165.

The Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) national football team, who we usually beat in the 1980s is at 153 and even a war torn nation like South Sudan is at 168.

The Indian national football team that we beat twice (1-0 and 2-1) here in 2005 is now ranked at 100.

What is more frightening is that minnows American Samoa (186), Cook Islands (189) and Samoa (190) are catching up on us and with the current Fiji FA executives, who are in for a four-year term, anything is bound to happen.

Just like rugby, it’s time for the relevant authorities to step in and take appropriate action.

This includes the appointment of an independent team (along with a FIFA representative) to review and amend Fiji FA structure and all processes involved. This is the way to go if football in the country is to reach greater heights

Feedback: leonec@fijisun.com.fj