"This is just the start" - India head coach Igor Stimac confident of a brighter future after the Blue Tigers climb up to 99th in the FIFA rankings

In the latest rankings of men's international football teams updated by FIFA, India climbed up a place from 100th to 99th. India's head coach Igor Stimac took to social media to voice his optimism in the wake of this positive development.

While India have been hovering in and around the 100th spot in recent months, it is a piece of welcome news as it officially secured the country's spot in Pot 2 of the World Cup Qualification process.

Stimac wrote on Twitter:

"Back in the 90s and more importantly we’ve secured our position in Pot 2 for the World Cup Qualifiers draw. Long way to go still, this is just the start IN @IndianFootball."

Finishing 99th in the rankings and above Lebanon (ranked 100th), who were vying with India for the final Pot 2 spot, means that the Blue Tigers are ranked 18th among the AFC nations.

The top nine ranked teams of the AFC are drafted into Pot 1, between 10th to 18th in Pot 2, and between 19th to 27th in Pot 3. The remaining 18 nations of the AFC enter Round 1, with the nine winners from the respective games drafted into Pot 4 for the Round 2 draws.

A Pot 2 spot ensures that India will avoid the higher-ranked teams from their pot and face just one team from Pot 1. This increases the Blue Tigers' hopes of getting enough points to progress to the next round.

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India have won three tournaments this year

Igor Stimac's men have been in scintillating form recently, winning three trophies on the trot - the Tri-Nation Tournament in March, the Intercontinental Cup in June, and the SAFF Championship in July. The team has instilled a renewed sense of confidence among the Indian football faithful and turned heads across the country, adding a large number of new supporters in the process.

Stimac has earned plaudits from the masses owing to the 16-match unbeaten run that the Indian team is on at the moment, and rightly so. The Croatian's swaggering attitude on the touchline has also been the subject of much discussion as he was sent off twice during the recently concluded SAFF Championship.

The second round of the World Cup Qualifiers will be one of the two major stages where India will be presented with the opportunity to show how far they've come, with the other being the AFC Asian Cup next year in Qatar.

The draw for the first and second rounds of both the FIFA World Cup 2026 and the AFC Asian Cup 2027 will take place later this month on July 27. The Blue Tigers will enter the second round of the qualifiers, which is slated to begin in November 2023.