The Indian football team. (Source: Express Archive)Nations League champion Portugal is up two places to No. 5 in the FIFA men’s rankings which are still led by Belgium. World champion France in second, Copa America host Brazil, and England complete an unchanged top four in the standings published Friday.
World Cup runner-up Croatia falls one spot to No. 6 and Spain rises two to No. 7. Germany is up two to No. 11, tied with Argentina. Italy rises three places to No. 14, tied with the Netherlands which lost the Nations League final on Sunday. Mexico is No. 18 ahead of the Gold Cup kicking off Saturday. The United States drops six to No. 30.
Iran rises one to make a rare appearance for an Asian team in the top 20. The 2022 World Cup host Qatar is unchanged at No. 55. The Asian Football Confederation uses these rankings for draw seedings in the next round of World Cup qualifying groups. The draw for five-team groups is made next month in Doha. Iraq heads the eight top-seeded teams in Pot 1 completed by No. 73 China.
The Indian football team remained static at 101st place in the FIFA rankings issued Friday. India had finished third in the King’s Cup in Thailand, which the organisers had said was a FIFA-sanctioned tournament. Igor Stimac’s men had lost to higher-ranked Curacao 1-3 before beating hosts Thailand 1-0, but these results did not make any difference to India’s rankings. India’s ranking points remained the same -1219- as that of the previous list, issued on April 4. The Indian team is at 18th spot among the Asian countries led by Iran (20th). Japan (28), Korea (37), Australia (43) and Qatar (55) form the top five in Asia. Belgium continued to top overall world rankings, followed by France, Brazil, England and Portugal.
FIFA publishes the next rankings on July 25 after the continental championships in South and North America, and Africa.
