India jumps three places in FIFA rankings, makes it back into top 100

The Blue Tigers were previously 102nd in the world.

Ahead of India’s AFC Asian Cup Qualifier against Kyrgyzstan later in the month, the Men in Blue have jumped places in the FIFA rankings to the 99th place on Thursday. The latest rankings have come out just after national side’s head coach Stephen Constantine’s contract renewal, under whom India had previously achieved a record 96th spot in the previous year.

The Blue Tigers have managed to gain six points, climbing three places in the rankings in the process. India is currently occupying the position with Libya on identical points (339). The Men in Blue have also been successful to progress in the AFC rankings, jumping places from the 14th position to 13th place following Lebanon ahead.

Germany continues to lead the chart in the world rankings with 1609 points, followed by Brazil and Portugal in the second and third place respectively. However, in continental charts, Iran (33) has managed to keep their lead intact in AFC, followed by Australia (37) and Japan (55) in the second and third places. Neighbours China also went up three spots as they landed in the 65th position in the world rankings.

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In the latest rankings, Andorra made the biggest leap as the Europeans jumped seven places to 130th while Azerbaijan lost the most places as they went down eight places to 127. Apart from the world, AFC saw some upsets as well as Saudi Arabia and Lebanon both lost five places each and are currently occupying 69th and 87th ranks respectively.

The news come with a positive vibe for the Indian national side, who will be facing Kyrgyzstan on March 27. Head Coach Stephen Constantine had previously announced the list of 32 probables for National Camp, which is set to begin from Friday with a handful of players to join up later in the month.