New Delhi: The Indian football team continued with its uprising, breaking into the top 100 rankings for a second time within a space of 10 months and are now placed 99th at the latest FIFA rankings released this Thursday.
May 4, 2017 was the first time in 21 years that India broke into the top 100 rankings reaching as high as 96 — which is the second best ranking after the 94th place that India attained in 1996. They crossed the 100 barrier thrice last year but ended up finishing 105 in December.
But the improvement in the rankings came as a little surprising given Indian didn’t play a single match during the recent ranking period. It now has 339 points and are placed jointly at the 99th position with Libya.
Iran, ranked 33rd currently leads the Asian charge in the rankings followed by Australia (37th) and Japan (55th). India are ranked 13th among the Asian countries above the likes of Qatar, Oman, Jordan, Bahrain and North Korea.
World Champions Germany with 1609 points continue to hold on to the top spot and is followed by Brazil, Portugal, Argentina, Belgium, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, France and Chile.
Shockingly, Heavy-weights Italy, England, Netherlands and Uruguay finds themselves outside the top 10. While Italy with 1062 points are ranked 14, England are two spots behind at 16th. Netherlands who like Italy failed to qualify for the 2018 Russia World Cup are on 21st followed by Uruyguay on 22nd.
Meanwhile India next play Kyrgyz Republic in the AFC Asian Cup qualifier match at Bishkek on March 27. The ‘Men in Blue’ has already qualified for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup and are unbeaten in their last 13 competitive games.