NEW DELHI: Riding on the wins over Myanmar and Kyrgyzstan, the Indian men's football team gained five places to be at 101st spot in the latest FIFA rankings on Thursday.
India, who is just one place away from top-100, gained 8.57 rating points after registering 1-0 and 2-0 wins over Myanmar and Kyrgyzstan respectively in Imphal last month.
India's best ranking was 94th, attained in 1996 as they had rarely breached the top-100.
The Igor Stimac-coached team is now at 19th place with a total of 1200.66 total points among 46 Asian nations. Japan is the top-ranked side among the Asian countries.
This was the first ranking chart of the year -- the previous one was on December 22 last. India is now one place below New Zealand and one place above Kenya.
World champions Argentina regained top spot in the FIFA rankings after a six-year gap dethroning Brazil who slipped to third place.
Lionel Messi-led Argentina, who won the 2022 World Cup in Qatar by beating France in the final, attained the No. 1 spot after they beat Panama 2-0 and Curacao 7-0 in international friendlies.
France gained one place to be at second followed by Brazil, Belgium, England, Netherlands, Croatia, Italy, Portugal and Spain in the top 10.
(With PTI inputs)
