TOI Sports Desk / TIMESOFINDIA.COM/jul 18,2024,15:01 IST
India, languishing at the 124th spot in the FIFA men’s rankings, released on Thursday, failed to make any progress despite the recent success of Copa America winners Argentina who consolidated their position at the top.
NEW DELHI: India, languishing at the 124th spot in the 124th spot in the FIFA men’s rankings, released on Thursday, failed to make any progress despite the recent success of Copa America winners Argentina, who consolidated their position at the top. The Indian men’s national football team had dropped three places in the June rankings after failing to qualify for the third round of the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers , following defeats against Qatar and Afghanistan. Since December last year, India’s ranking has been on a downward trajectory, having previously broken into the top 100 with a best ranking of 99.
In the Asian rankings, India remained at the 22nd position, trailing behind countries such as Lebanon, Palestine, and Vietnam. Argentina (1st) strengthened their hold at the top of the table after successfully defending their Copa América title France (2nd) maintained their position as the closest challengers, having reached the semi-finals of EURO 2024. Spain (3rd, up 5) celebrated their European championship victory by climbing into the top three, while runners-up England (4th, up 1) moved up one spot, surpassing Brazil (5th,down 1).
Belgium (6th, down 3) slipped out of the top five, with the Netherlands (7th) and Portugal (8th, down 2) following closely closely behind. Colombia (9th, up 3) found solace in their return to the top 10, despite a narrow loss to Argentina in the Copa América final.