Indian football team achieves sub-100 FIFA ranking for first time since 2018

The Indian men’s football team on Thursday jumped up a spot in the FIFA rankings to be placed 99th, achieving a sub-100 spot for the first time since 2018. India’s recent surge in the FIFA rankings, the Blue Tigers jumped to the 100th spot on 29 June, is a result of them winning the Intercontinental Cup and SAFF Championship in June and July. In both the tournament India defeated higher-ranked Lebanon who are currently at 100. In the Intercontinental Cup, India downed Lebanon in the final while they defeated Kuwait in the final of the SAFF Championship 2023. Kuwait have jumped up four places to 137th.

This was the first time that two West Asian countries took part in the SAFF Championship. India’s best-ever FIFA ranking is 94 which was achieved in 1996. They were placed 96th in 2017 and 2018 and had also reached 99 in 1993. In Asian Football Confederation’s rankings, India continue to be in the 18th spot with Japan (FIFA ranking 20), Iran (22) and Australia (27) in the top three.