Sunil Chhteri (Supply: X)
The Indian soccer males’s workforce dropped 4 locations to 121 within the newest FIFA rankings, its worst in recent times, following an embarrassing 1-2 defeat towards Afghanistan within the second spherical of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers in Guwahati final month.
The Igor Stimac-coached facet, which had damaged into the top-100 final 12 months, having gained the Intercontinental Cup, the Tri-Nations match and the SAFF Championship, on March 26 suffered a stunning defeat at house to lowly-ranked Afghanistan to proceed its poor run of late.
Although the workforce registered a win towards Kuwait within the World Cup qualifiers, its first away win in over 20 years, the forgettable outing on the AFC Asian Cup 2023 in Qatar, the place the facet misplaced all its matches with out scoring a single objective, noticed it plummet 15 spots to 117th after the continental match.
India ended their Asian Cup marketing campaign in January pointless and goal-less after dropping to Australia (0-2), Uzbekistan (0-3) and Syria (0-1). It completed on the backside of the four-team Group B.
Final month, the Blue Tigers had been held to a goalless draw by Afghanistan of their first leg second spherical World Cup qualifiers in Abha, Saudi Arabia, after which misplaced the house fixture, prompting outrage from followers and requires sacking of Stimac.
India’s worst rating, although, is 173. Earlier than dropping 15 locations to 117 in March, the Indian workforce was positioned at 102nd within the FIFA rankings, issued on December 21, 2023. Reigning world champions Argentina proceed to prime the chart adopted by 2022 World Cup runners-up France, England, Belgium and Brazil. Netherlands occupy the sixth place and they’re adopted by Portugal, Spain and Italy with Croatia finishing the highest 10.
