ST JOHN'S–St Kitts and Nevis have jumped into the top three of the Caribbean Football Union but the latest FIFA rankings have hardly been kind to regional teams, with several of them suffering sharp declines.
The Kittitian side have moved up 12 spots in the international rankings to be third in CFU and 80th in the FIFA rankings. This represents a solid upward trend for the tiny Caribbean nation who vaulted 29 places last April into the top 100 in the world, and then remained unmoved at 92 for the last two months.
Puerto Rico, meanwhile, were the biggest movers in CFU jumping into sixth place, after leaping 46 spots in the FIFA rankings to be 112th.They were followed by Curacao and Suriname who both jumped 20 places in FIFA and now lie ninth and 15th respectively in CFU.
There was not all good news in the rankings, however. French Caribbean nation, Haiti, plunged 26 spots to be 100th in FIFA and fifth in CFU while St Lucia also fell 26 places to be 171st in the world and 16th in CFU.
Bermuda slipped 21 places to 188th in FIFA and Barbados were also losers, falling 16 spots to 156th.At the top, Jamaica's lead in CFU was narrowed after they fell nine places to 55th in the world, following on from their disappointing run at last month's Copa America Centenario in the United States.
The Reggae Boyz lost all three group matches– to Venezuela, Mexico and Uruguay–to finish bottom of their group without a point.
Their perennial archrivals Trinidad and Tobago closed in on the top spot after rising six places to 55th in FIFA.
Rankings
FIFA rankings are in brackets.
1 Jamaica (55)
2 Trinidad & Tobago (58)
3 St Kitts & Nevis (80)
4 Antigua & Barbuda (83)
5 Haiti (100)
6 Puerto Rico (112)
7 Cuba (121)
8 Guyana (129)
9 Curacao (134)
10 Dominican Republic (139)
11 Aruba (147)
12 Barbados (156)
12 St Vincent & the Grenadines (156)
14 Grenada (159)
15 Suriname (170)
16 St Lucia (171)
17 Dominica (173)
18 Bermuda (178)
19 US Virgin Islands (196)
19 Montserrat (196)
21 Cayman Islands (199)
22 Turks & Caicos Islands (200)
23 British Virgin Islands (204)
24 Anguilla (205)
24 The Bahamas (205)
CMC