The Republic of Ireland men's team has dropped outside the top 50 in FIFA's world ranking system. Stephen Kenny's side is now ranked as the 52nd best team in the world.
This comes after Ireland's chances of reaching Euro 2024 were dealt a huge blow this month. The Boys in Green lost 2-1 to Greece in Athens. Days later, Ireland beat Gibraltar 3-0 on the following Monday to finally get their first win of their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign.
Ireland's conquerors, Greece, have now taken Ireland's previous spot at 49th.
Sitting at 52nd marks Ireland's lowest world ranking since falling to 67th in October 2015, with the country's lowest ever ranking of 70th coming back in June 2014.
On the other hand, Ireland's best ever world ranking was 6th, achieved in the summer of 1993.
🇮🇪| On this day in 1993, Ireland were 6th in the FIFA World Rankings
Our highest ever rank
We lost one competitive match between July 1990 and June 1994
💚 pic.twitter.com/7jfdSKCJmO— IrishPropaganda🇮🇪⚽️ (@IrishPropaganda) August 8, 2022
In other news, Ireland's chances of reaching the European finals are slim, and there is speculation that Stephen Kenny will not see out the rest of the games. Ireland will head to France in September and then welcome the Netherlands to Dublin in that same international block.
Stephen Kenny has come under intense scrutiny, and a change has been suggested. However, according to a report from The Irish Independent, a change is not on the cards. Kenny will get a chance to lead the Ireland team for the September double-header.
The paper says, "Stephen Kenny will get the chance to bring Ireland into September's crunch qualifiers with France and the Netherlands.
"The manager's performance was discussed in the regular monthly meeting of the FAI board last night, with the standard review of the June window just one of a number of topics on the agenda."
They also added, "There had been speculation that the Dubliner was on the ropes following the difficult defeat in Athens that left Ireland without a point after two Euro 2024 games, but once the dust settled on the initial disappointment, there was never a genuine anticipation that the FAI would seek to make a change at this juncture."
