Blue Tigers of India have ended the year 2019 in 108 position in the latest FIFA rankings for the month of December and last for the year 2019 as released on Thursday by the world football governing, FIFA.
Compared to 2018, when India finished in 97 position, the team has lost ground in up to eleven places all through 2019 to end it outside the top 100. Furthermore, the team has gathered up to One Thousand One hundred and Eighty-Seven (1187) points which translates to a top 20 finish in the Asian rankings as they sit 19th.
Throughout the year 2019 since the drop from 97, the highest ranking for the Blue Tigers is in One Hundred and One (101) in the month of April as well as June in a year where the team never featured in the top 100.
Meanwhile, Japan finished atop the Asian ranking table In the Asian ranking, and Japan is top and Twenty Eight while the Iranian National Team are placed second and Thirty Third in the world, South Korea makes up the top three and are Forty in the world. Australia and Asian Champions Qatar make up the top five as the former finished in the top Fifty in Forty-Two while the latter ended just outside the top fifty in the world in Fifty-Five.
2022 FIFA World Cup hosts Qatar are the Asian team with the highest number of points gathered across the last 12 months with One Hundred and Thirty-Eight (138) points as they went all the way to lift the Asian title.
This also meant a big move upward as they climbed thirty eight spots across the calendar year with fellow Asians Japan making similar movements of Twenty Two spots just bettered by African Champions, Algeria who were one spot behind Qatar as the second-highest climber in 2019 with Thirty Two spots covered by the Algerians.
Meanwhile, Belgium ended the year as the top-ranked team in the world, the second time successively while France and Brazil finished in the top three.
Written by: Idowu Danel Ademiju
