FIFA Rankings: Indian football team to slip to 108th spot in November update
After conjuring a face-saving draw against Afghanistan and suffering a narrow loss against Oman in back-to-back away matches at the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, the Indian football team might slip two places in the FIFA rankings ladder to be placed at the 108th position in the November update as per calculations done by Football-Rankings. India are placed fourth in their group with just three points from five matches.
The Blue Tigers were ranked 101st when Igor Stimac was appointed as the head coach but since then India's rankings have taken a toll. In the October update, the Sunil Chhetri-led side occupied the 106th spot in FIFA rankings with 1201 points.
And, the 1-1 draw against Afghanistan in Dushanbe and 0-1 loss to Oman in Muscat seems to have pulled them down further. They are set to lose 14 ranking points but will continue to rank 19th in Asia.
Japan will become the highest-ranked team in Asia occupying the 28th spot as Iran is set to fall six places to the 33rd position. Belgium will continue holding the numero uno position.
India's recent opponents in the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, Oman, will move three places ahead to be ranked 81. Afghanistan, on the other hand, will stay put in the 149th position after they lost to Qatar.
Qatar, whom India held in their Group E encounter previously, will move two places and be ranked 55th after it defeated Singapore and Afghanistan. Bangladesh, on the contrary, will drop three places to come back to their 187th spot as they lost to Oman.
India started the year being ranked 97th in FIFA rankings when Stephen Constantine was the head coach will drop 11 places overall after the November update. With no more FIFA international friendly windows in 2019, India is most likely to occupy the 108th spot by the end of the year.