Top 5 World Cup playing nations 101st ranked India have leapfrogged

Modified Apr 06, 2017 19:38 IST

Ranking as low as 101st is fairly irrelevant as far as making it to the World Cup is concerned

#2 Kuwait

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - FEBRUARY 29: Kuwait national team poses during the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil Asian 3rd Qualifier match between South Korea and Kuwait at Seoul Worldcup Stadium on February 29, 2012 in Seoul, South Korea. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images) — Kuwait added their own bit of controversy to the 1982 World Cup

Another World Cup-playing nation sitting below India in the latest FIFA rankings is Kuwait. The Middle Easterners are currently banned by FIFA and have played only twice since the start of 2016. All that explains the Blues’ lowly ranking of 166^th.

Kuwait’s only appearance in a World Cup finals was in 1982, the same year New Zealand made their World Cup debut. In what was a World Cup dotted with controversies from the Disgrace of Gijon to the Harald Schumacher-Patrick Battiston incident, Kuwait added their own bit of controversy to the tournament.

In their group stage match with France, the Kuwaiti players, who had stopped playing after appearing to hear the referee’s whistle, walked off the pitch in protest after their opponents scored a goal. They eventually resumed playing only after the intervention of Sheikh Fahad Al-Ahmed, when he walked down to the pitch to speak to the fourth official and the referee’s subsequent decision to disallow the French goal.

Edited by Staff Editor