Benin: the heavy defeat against Togo is costly for the Cheetahs in the FIFA ranking

The Benin national football team lost three places in the FIFA world rankings published on June 11, dropping from 90th to 93rd position, after a winless June international window. The Cheetahs drew against Niger and then suffered a heavy defeat against Togo in two friendly matches played in Morocco.

On June 5, at the Père-Jégo Stadium in Casablanca, Benin was held to a draw by Niger (1-1). The men of German coach Gernot Rohr opened the scoring with Amiro Amadou in the 37th minute before conceding an equalizer in the closing minutes. On June 9, at the El Bachir Stadium in Mohammédia, about thirty kilometers northeast of Casablanca, the team fell 5-1 to Togo. Benin took the lead through Felipe Santos in the 6th minute, before a self-goal by defender Mohamed Tijani leveled the score at 1-1 in the 38th minute. Reduced to ten after the expulsion of Samadou Attidjikou shortly after the hour mark, the Beninese conceded four goals in the second half.

This setback erases some of the gains made in March, when two 1-0 victories against Liberia and Guinea had lifted Benin to 1,258.98 points and the 90th place in the world. In FIFA’s points system, a loss to a lower-ranked team, with Togo positioned at 121st, carries more weight than a defeat to a higher-ranked opponent. Benin has never reached the final stage of the World Cup and is not among the qualifiers for the 2026 edition.

Both matches were part of the preparation, without qualification stakes. The Cheetahs’ next official matches are in the qualifiers for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations. Benin will be in Group F, alongside top seed Burkina Faso, Mauritania, and the Central African Republic. The first matchdays are scheduled between September 21 and October 6, 2026, with the final phase co-hosted by Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania from June 19 to July 17, 2027.