FIFA, the world football governing body, released the latest men’s world rankings today, and Bangladesh saw a significant boost following their victory over India in the Asian Cup qualifiers. The win added 17 points to Bangladesh’s total, bringing their total to 911 points. As a result, the team’s ranking improved from 183 to 180, marking their best position in nine years.
Bangladesh’s last peak ranking came in May 2016 at 178, but it gradually dropped to 197 in the following years. Despite minor fluctuations, the team had been hovering between 183 and 187 for a long period.
“𝑹𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 180 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑭𝑰𝑭𝑨 𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒅 𝒎𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒚,” 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒂 𝑩𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒉 𝑭𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝑭𝒆𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍. “𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒘𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒘𝒆’𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒍𝒅 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒇𝒆𝒘 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔.”
India Drops While Bangladesh Moves Up
Before the recent qualifiers, India was 47 places ahead of Bangladesh. However, after losing to the Bangladeshi side, India fell six spots, moving from 136th to 142nd. Bangladesh also played a friendly against Nepal during the November window, which ended in a draw. Interestingly, FIFA did not account for this match in their rankings update. Nepal, meanwhile, slipped from 180th to 182nd.
In the broader rankings, Spain retained the top spot, followed by Argentina, France, and England. Brazil moved up to fifth, overtaking Portugal (6th) and the Netherlands (7th), while Germany and Croatia climbed one place each to 9th and 10th. Brazil, the five-time world champions, drew with Tunisia after beating Cameroon in their recent fixtures.
“𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒖𝒑𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝑩𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒉’𝒔 𝒗𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒇𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒅𝒚𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒄𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒇𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍,” 𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒅.
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