New Delhi: The Indian football team Thursday climbed one spot to be 96th in the recently released FIFA rankings. India were ranked 97 in the previous rankings but moved up a rung after FIFA implemented a new ranking system called ELO where points are added and subtracted to the team’s existing tally before every match.
India will take part in the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship at Bangladesh in September and continue their preparations for the upcoming AFC Asian Cup 2019. The Men in Blue are clubbed with Sri Lanka and Maldives in Group B.
Meanwhile, 2018 FIFA World Cup winner France have taken a giant leap of six spots to clinch be the top ranked country followed by Belgium, Brazil, Croatia and Uruguay.
India have also qualified for the AFC Asian Cup to be held in United Arab Emirates (UAE) next year in January. They last played in 2011 where they were beaten in all the matches.