India rises to best FIFA rankings in two decades

04/06/2017

India has climbed an incredible 31 places in the ranking to reach the 101 spot - their highest ranking since 1996. The Indian football team is on one of their best ever runs winning 11 out of the 13 competitive matches, including the ongoing seven-match winning streak, scoring 31 goals.

After the loss in the World Cup Qualifier against Turkmenistan in March last year, India have not lost a single game - home or away. The run started with a win against Laos in the Asian Cup Qualifiers and after three friendly wins, India beat Myanmar away from home for the first time in 64 years. The new rank has elevated India as the 11th ranked team in Asia.

Courtesy the winning run that started in June last year, India has achieved a FIFA rank of 101. Ever since FIFA announced its ranking system in December 1992, India have been able to go under the century milestone just twice - 99 in November 1993 and 94 in February 1996. In 2014, India were looking down the abyss with a rank of 171 but the arrival of Stephen Constantine has marked a change in their fortunes.

Lebanon, Kyrgyzstan, and Macao are the next three scheduled games for India and based on current form it is not far fetched to think that India might be able to break into the top-100 teams in the world.

On the international stage, Brazil displaced Argentina at the top of the rankings while Switzerland broke into the top-10 at the expense of Uruguay.