Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Zurich: Saudi Arabia’s massive 20 place rise in the February edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking has seen the three-time AFC Asian Cup champions rise from seventh to third in the continental standings.
Propelled by their 97 points - the biggest tally of any nation on the latest edition of the global list - the Green Falcons soared from 75th to to 55th in the world rankings, seeing the Gulf nation replace Japan in third-place in the Asian standings.
Iran, the only AFC Member Association inside FIFA’s top 50, remain Asia’s highest-ranked nation while Korea Republic stay second, with the duo sitting at 44th and 53rd in the FIFA list respectively.
After slipping two places in the first edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking, AFC Asian Cup 2015 champions Australia dropped a further nine places in February to sit sixth in Asia below the UAE, while 2007 AFC Asian Cup winners Iraq enter the Asian top ten at the expense of China.
Saudi Arabia were not the only big AFC movers in February, with Palestine’s 21-place rise lifting the last ever AFC Challenge Cup winners to 110th on the global list and 15th in Asia while DPR Korea - two-time winners of the now defunct tournament for ‘emerging nations’ - enjoyed an 18-place climb, taking the East Asians into the top 100 for the first time since peaking at 99 in 2013.
Full FIFA Ranking for Asia (February)
1 (44) Iran
2 (53) Korea Republic
3 (55) Saudi Arabia
4 (58) Japan
5 (65) United Arab Emirates
6 (68) Australia
7 (71) Uzbekistan
8 (78) Qatar
9 (82) Jordan
10 (89) Iraq
11 (93) China
12 (95) DPR Korea
13 (97) Oman
14 (105) Kyrgyzstan
15 (110) Palestine
16 (114) Turkmenistan
17 (120) Thailand
18 (125) Syria
19 (130) Bahrain
20 (133) Kuwait
21 (134) Philippines
22 (137) Hong Kong
23 (140) Lebanon
24 (146) Vietnam
25 (148) Singapore
25 (148) Tajikistan
27 (153) Myanmar
28 (154) Afghanistan
29 (156) Guam
30 (157) Maldives
31 (162) India
32 (170) Timor-Leste
33 (171) Malaysia
34 (175) Yemen
35 (177) Bangladesh
36 (178) Laos
37 (180) Indonesia
38 (181) Chinese Taipei
39 (183) Cambodia
40 (184) Brunei Darussalam
41 (185) Pakistan
42 (188) Nepal
43 (189) Sri Lanka
44 (193) Bhutan
45 (195) Macau
46 (201) Mongolia
* Note: position on FIFA’s World Ranking in parenthesis
Photo: AFP