After having reached the lowest ranking in their history in September this year when they were placed 196 in the FIFA Rankings, the Bangladesh football team went one further and slipped down to 197 in the latest rankings released yesterday.

The men in red and green had risen four places to 192 in November, but unfortunately slipped down a further five to hit the nadir in their footballing history.

Bangladesh's fall was not down to results; in fact they have not played a single match under the consideration of FIFA in 2017. It is the other teams who have improved their standards.

There are only eight active teams below Bangladesh, but they may take solace from the fact that they are above sub-continental rivals Sri Lanka (200th) and Pakistan (201st).

Turks and Caicos Islands, Cayman Islands, San Marino and the British Virgin Islands are the other illustrious active teams below Bangladesh.

On the international front, Germany, Brazil and Portugal retained the top three places.