GENEVA, Nov 30: The Indian football team (men’s) have been ranked 102 (similar to the previous rank) in the world in the latest FIFA Rankings (Men’s), which was released on Thursday, the 30th of November. The Blue Tigers also remain 18th in Asia, following an international break where they won a game and lost another.
Their international break kicked off with a historic win against Kuwait in their 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers Round 2 opener. Igor Stimac’s men stultified Kuwait away from home, and registered a 1-0 win.
Their second fixture came against Qatar in Odisha, where despite India’s best efforts, small lapses of concentration costed them the game.
As a consequence of those two results, India gained 1.96 points this month, for a total of 1200.8, which is 1.97 points behind the next best team – Kosovo.
India’s highest ranking of this calendar year came during July, following their Intercontinental Cup and SAFF Championship triumphs, where they defeated the likes of Lebanon and Kuwait to claim the titles, and take their points tally to 1208.69.
However, losses to Lebanon and Malaysia in September and October proved to be costly for the Blues, as both nations were lower-ranked opponents. Hence India were subjected to a larger decrease in FIFA ranking points. Meanwhile, England have returned to third in the FIFA men’s world rankings after cruising through their Euro 2024 qualification campaign with Brazil falling out of the top four.
It is the equal highest position England have achieved in FIFA’s standings and head coach Gareth Southgate has made reaching top spot a priority for his players. World champions Argentina remain at the top with France second and Belgium in fourth spot.
Back-to-back defeats by Colombia and Argentina have seen Brazil drop down to fifth place.
Switzerland dropped four places to 18th while the biggest risers were the Comoros Islands who jumped nine spots to 119th after notable wins against Central African Republic and Ghana. (Agencies)
