In the latest Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) Rankings that have been revealed by the apex football body, the Indian football team has made a steady ascent to go up to 148th position, climbing 4 spots.
In July 2016, India propelled 11 positions to be ranked 152nd in the world after a 7-1 win on aggregate over Southeast Asian nation Laos in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualifying playoff.
India played against a higher-ranked team for the first time in two years when they faced 114-ranked Puerto Rico in September 2016. In the international friendly in Mumbai, they came back from being a goal down to win 4-1. Narayan Das, Sunil Chhetri, Jeje Lalpekhlua and Jackichand Singh scored for the Men in Blue.
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This certainly gave the Indian team a push in the latest rankings as they managed to climb up 4 places to 148th. India is the highest ranked South Asian country (SAFF). Other (South Asian Football Federation) SAFF members such as Maldives are placed 165th, while Bangladesh were 185th, Nepal 186th, Bhutan 189th, Sri Lanka 193rd and Pakistan were placed 194th.
Not a single Asian Football Confederation (AFC) member is in the top 30 in the world, with Iran ranked highest at 37th. India is ranked 27th among the Asian countries.
The Central African Republic were the worst movers as they dropped 35 places to be ranked 122nd while Bolivia climbed up 35 places to be ranked to 75th.
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Team India earned their lowest ranking ever in 2015 when they were placed 173rd in the FIFA rankings. From there on, Stephen Constantine's boys have made a slow and steady progress and are currently ranked 148th in the world. India currently have 204.63 rating points.
The rise in rankings should boost the Indian footballers' confidence ahead of the next round of Asian Cup playoffs in March 2017.
Argentina still on top
Lionel Messi's Argentina held on to their top spot in the rankings. Belgium, as well, managed to keep hold of their second spot, while Germany climbed up one spot to third. As a result, Colombia dropped down to fourth. The other countries making the top ten were Brazil, Chile, Portugal, France, Uruguay and Wales.
In the International friendly break in early September, Leo Messi and co. beat Uruguay but drew against Venezuela. However, they remain on top with 1645.74 rating points. Belgium lost to Spain 0-2, as they dropped a few rating points and but still managed to hold on to their position with 1369.36 points. Germany fared well in their World Cup qualifiers as they brushed past Norway 3-0 and eventually gained one spot to move tor third.
Brazil defeated Ecuador and Colombia and gained 5 places to move to joint fourth position along with Colombia and have 1323 rating points.
