New Delhi: Riding on their back-to-back wins over Laos last month, India made a big leap of 11 places to occupy 152nd spot in the latest world football rankings issued by FIFA.
India beat Laos 6-1 and 1-0 in the home and away play-off matches to make it to the 2019 Asian Cup qualifying tournament.
Stephen Constantine’s side gained 49 points from previous month and is now ranked highest in South Asia and 27th in Asia.
In fact, India is the fourth best positive mover among the Asian countries this month after Tajikistan (up 19 places to 145th), Yemen (up 16 places to 160th) and Turkmenistan (up 14 places to 120th).
Iran (39th) remain Asia’s number one ranked team, followed by Korea Republic (48th), Uzbekistan (56th), Japan (57th) and Australia (59th).
Overall, Argentina remain on top, despite losing to Chile in the Copa Centenario summit clash. Belgium, Colombia, Germany and Chile retained their places at second, third, fourth and fifth while UEFA Euro 2016 champions Portugal moved up two places to be at sixth.
Meanwhile, Brazil and Spain dropped two spots each to be at No.8 and 9 while Uruguay dropped three spots to be out of the top 10. Spain suffered a second round exit in the Euro after losing to Italy while Brazil also bowed out of Copa in the league stage.
New Zealand emerged as biggest climbers, moving up a whopping 54 places to 93rd on the back of an OFC Nations Cup victory that saw the the All Whites qualify for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup and furthered their FIFA World Cup qualifying ambitions. (Agencies)
