Prince Sultan Bin Fahd, the Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF) president, has voiced his discontent with the revised FIFA World Ranking system that saw his country drop to 81st spot in July. Bin Fahd issued a statement that was carried out by Saudi media on Monday to inquire about the reasons that led to Saudi Arabia's tremendous 47-spots drop in the rankings. The Saudi Prince, who is also president of the Arab Union Football Association (UAFA), said that the revised rankings need to be discussed. According to the statement, several FIFA member associations have objected to the new scoring system. Bin Fahd said that he instructed SAFF honorary member Abdullah Al-Dibil to speak with FIFA officials regarding the rankings that "do not reflect Saudi Arabia's consistency in regional and international competition." FIFA had announced earlier this month that their ranking system has been revised to ensure "transparency and simplicity and combine them with sporting criteria and statistical requirements." Saudi Arabia were eliminated from the group stage of the 2006 World Cup after two defeats from Ukraine and Spain and a draw with Arab counterparts Tunisia.
