Indian football team jumps two places to 104 in FIFA rankings

[Grimasharma]

The Indian football team gained two places to jump to 104th in the latest FIFA world rankings released on Thursday after an impressive showing in the Asian Cup qualification.

The Blue Tigers are placed just below New Zealand (103rd), who missed out on a 2022 FIFA World Cup spot after losing to Costa Rica 0-1 in the intercontinental play-off earlier this month.

India's ranking among Asian Football Confederation members, however, still remained static at 19th place. Iran retained the top spot among AFC countries at 23rd place. The Sunil Chhetri-led side had their best ever Asian Cup qualification campaign earlier this month when they won all three of their league matches to top group D and secure a place in the 24-team Finals to be held in 2023.

This was India's fifth overall qualification and the first time the country qualified for back-to-back Asian Cups. In the overall rankings, Brazil remained on top, three months after taking the top spot from Belgium (2nd).

Argentina jumped one place to third at the expense of France (4th), who paid the price for four winless games in the UEFA Nations League.

England, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal and Denmark complete the top 10.

[SwatiSood]

The Indian football team has jumped two places to 104th in the FIFA rankings. The ranking is based on a points system, with the first place getting 25 points, the second place 22 points, and so on. India's rise in the rankings could be due to their better performances in recent tournaments, such as the SAFF Cup and the AFC Asian Cup.