The Indian men’s football team climbed on the top 100 FIFA rankings for the first time since 2018, moving up one position to 99th after winning the SAFF Championship. Earlier this month, India defeated strong nations Lebanon and Kuwait on penalties in the semifinal and final of the SAFF Championships in Bengaluru.
Lebanon rose two places to 100th, just below India, while Kuwait rose four places to 137th in the latest FIFA rankings published on Thursday. Lebanon and Kuwait were invited to participate in the SAFF Championships to assure strong competition.
India currently has 1208.69 points. The 94th place FIFA ranking for India was achieved in 1996. Additionally, the nation has previously ranked 99th in 1993 and 96th in 2017 and 2018. It was placed at 100th last month.
Overall, Argentina, the world champions, continued to be at the top, followed by France, Brazil, England and Belgium. Japan topped the Asian rankings at number 20, followed by Iran at number 22, Australia at number 27, Korea at number 28 and Saudi Arabia at number 54.