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Japan remain Asia’s best
Kuala Lumpur: Japan will head into the Joint Qualification of the Asian Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup 2026 and AFC Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2027™ draw as the continent's highest ranked team.
The Samurai Blue remain unchanged at 20 in the latest FIFA World Ranking released on Thursday.

Four-time AFC Asian Cup champions, Japan stayed two spots ahead of Islamic Republic of Iran with Australia five spots further down in 27.

Korea Republic, at 28, also stayed in the spot they were in the previous update last month with Saudi Arabia dropping down one spot to 54, completing the top five ranked Asian sides.
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Similarly, 2023 AFC Asian Cup hosts Qatar and China PR both dropped one spot to 59 and 80 respectively.

India, who recently won the 2023 SAFF Championship, climbed one spot to 99.
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Lebanon, Malaysia and Kuwait were the other notable improvements - Lebanon moving up two places to 100, Malaysia gaining a spot to 136 while Kuwait climbed four spots to 137.

Crucially Hong Kong, in position 149, are the 27th placed Asian ranked team, the final spot that will go straight into Round 2 of the draw.

Click HERE to view complete Rankings.