February 16 – Qatar have rocketed 21 places up the official World Rankings following their Asian Cup Campaign on home soil which saw them become back-to-back continental champions, resulting in a best-ever placement in the ranking of 37th with 1499 points.
Despite their dominance in the Asian Cup, where they won all seven games (including a shootout win versus Uzbekistan), Qatar are ranked fifth amongst AFC nations.
They still sit some distance behind Australia (23rd, 1554 points), South Korea (22nd, 1566 points), Iran (20th, 1608 points) and Japan (18th, 1614 points), who remain the top-ranked Asian team despite dropping a place due to underperforming at the recent tournament.
Each AFC team placed above Qatar bailed out of the Asian Cup in the Semi Finals or sooner as Jordan, who jumped up 17 places and 70 points, remarkably reached the final.
Qatar’s rise sees them enter uncharted territory, with two other teams also recording best-ever rankings. Senegal (17th, up 3), who suffered shoot-out heartbreak at the hands of the eventual winners Cote d’Ivoire in the Africa Cup of Nations round of 16, break new ground, while Tajikistan (99th, up 7) mark their maiden Asian Cup campaign by making a first-ever appearance in the top 100.
Angola jumped up 23 places thanks to an inspiring AFCON campaign which saw them defy the odds by reaching the quarter finals of the competition, narrowly missing out to eventual finalists Nigeria. This means that they have entered the top 100 teams for the first time since 2015. The Angolans have steadily climbed towards this achievement across the past few years, but a huge 70-point gain has sealed their place at 93rd in the table.
On the flip side Vietnam fell the furthest in terms of points, as their winless display in Doha caused 41 points to be docked from their overall score.
Equally disappointed with their Asian Cup performance, India tumbled the furthest down the ranking in terms of placement. They lost 15 places thanks to a pointless and goalless group stage at Asia’s premier competition, dropping to 117th place in the world rankings.
The top ten of the list is unchanged with all ten teams hailing from Europe or South America, who played zero games since the last ranking update in December, Argentina remain top.
FIFA have said their next ranking update will be April 4, which can be expected to shake up the top of the table with various clashes between top-ranked teams scheduled for March, including England’s Wembley double-header versus Brazil and Belgium.
To see the full ranking, click here.
Contact the writer of this story, Harry Ewing, at moc.l1713948112labto1713948112ofdlr1713948112owedi1713948112sni@g1713948112niwe.1713948112yrrah1713948112