As has been widely reported today, Ireland have slipped to a record low of 59th in the latest FIFA World Rankings. As the graph below details, over the past 20 years Ireland have been as high as 6th (in 1993) and have had something of an inconsistent performance in the rankings ever since.
The Glory Years
In 1993 and '94 the Irish team were at an all time high. From 1992 through to our victory in Germany shortly before the 1994 World Cup, we had only lost one game in 18, a 1-3 defeat to Spain during the World Cup qualifiers, which saw us rise to 6th by December 1993.
The Charlton/McCarthy Crossover
As the decade went on and qualification campaigns began to culminate in Playoff defeats, our ranking dropped to a low of 56th in 1998. Our poor results through the 1998 World Cup qualifying campaign, combined with disappointing friendly results against Czech Republic, Argentina and Mexico in early '98, saw Mick McCarthy's team spiral down the rankings.
McCarthy's Steady Revival
image: sportsfile
McCarthy managed to revive the team during his second and third qualifying campaigns. By Euro 2000, despite losing out to Turkey, our ranking had risen back to the low 30s, and after the World Cup in 2002, it was as high as 14 following our unbeaten campaign in Japan and Korea, as well as our decent pre -tournament friendly results.
Brian Kerr Loves A Friendly
Brian Kerr loved himself a friendly. No manager has ever took more pride in the FIFA rankings than Kerr. Under his somewhat brief stewardship, the Irish team failed to reach the playoffs for Euro 2004 due to a lacklustre draw with Russia at Lansdowne Road and a defeat in Basel on the final day of qualification. Following that 2-0 reverse to Switzerland, Kerr's team went on a 19 game unbeaten run, not losing a game for the whole of 2004, which propelled us up to 12th for a brief time.
Stan's Decline
image: sportsfile
The disappointing end to the 2006 World Cup qualifiers, which saw us lose to France and draw with Switzerland spelled the end of Kerr and the arrival of Stan as The Gaffer. By late 2007 and early 2008 we were hovering around the 40 mark. A run of seven games without victory in that time didn't help.
The Trap Rise and Fall
Giovani Trapattoni became Irish manager in the spring of 2008 and quickly ended that streak and dragged us up to the dizzy heights of 18th in the world following qualification to Euro 2012. Since our embarrassing showing in Poland however, we've been dangling around the 40 mark once again, which has culminated in our all time worst showing of 59th today.
info via fifa
