Indian football team climb up a spot in latest FIFA Rankings

Indian Football team finished 2025 in the 142nd spot in the FIFA Rankings.

The Indian football team has received a positive update when it came to their placement in the first ranking update of 2026 in the FIFA World Rankings in January 2026.

That is because the Blue Tigers have successfully managed to move up a place in the rankings, despite not having played any football since their loss to Bangladesh in the AFC Asian Cup Qualifier clash in November 2026.

Indeed, India has climbed up to the 141st position in the latest update of the FIFA World Rankings. However, that isn’t really of their own accord, because they still hold the same coefficient points that they had in the latest rankings update ,which happened towards the end of 2025.

How did India climb up a spot?

The reason for India being able to climb up in the FIFA World Rankings is mostly because of Botswana’s poor performances in the 2025-26 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON). Indeed, Botswana lost all their matches in the African tournament, and that has cost them dearly when it comes to their ranking and coefficient in the FIFA World Ranking system.

Botswana have dropped six places down to the 144th position in the world rankings, seeing a decrease of 22.14 coefficient points for their awful performances in the continental competition. As a result of that, teams like India, Liberia, Latvia and the Central African Republic have all automatically gained a place in the FIFA rankings.

India are still in 28th place in the AFC section of the FIFA World Rankings, not being able to break into the best 25 AFC teams yet. The Blue Tigers are behind the likes of Kuwait, the Philippines and Turkmenistan among the AFC teams in the latest FIFA World Ranking, and India are still holding their worst position in the FIFA World Rankings since 2016.

What is next for Indian Football Team?

The Blue Tigers are going to return to action in their next AFC Asian Cup 2026 qualifier, which will take place on 31 March (2026) against Hong Kong at home. This is scheduled to be their final match of the qualifiers, with India already having failed to qualify for the AFC Asian Cup. There are no more officially scheduled matches for the Blue Tigers in 2026.

Khalid Jamil’s side had a pretty poor 2025, where they were only able to win three of their 11 official matches and couldn’t win a single AFC Asian Cup qualifier clash. Their year ended in dreadful fashion with a 1-0 defeat to Bangladesh in the AFC Asian Cup qualifier, causing frustrations and dismay to boil over among the fans.

Who are holding the top spots in the FIFA World Rankings?

Spain are still holding the no.1 spot in the FIFA World Rankings heading into the FIFA World Cup, having coefficient points of 1877.18. They are still ahead of defending World Champions Argentina, who take up the second position and France are currently third in the rankings. England and Brazil complete the top-5 by taking the fourth and fifth position, respectively.

Morocco have climbed up to the top-10 of the FIFA World Rankings, taking up the 8th position after reaching the finals of the Africa Cup of Nations. Senegal, who recently won the AFCON title, have climbed up seven places to the 12th position in the latest FIFA World Rankings.

For more updates, follow Khel Now on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube; download the Khel Now Android App or IOS App and join our community on Whatsapp & Telegram.