It’s raining happiness for the Indian football fraternity and football fans since both the teams (Men and women) have Risen up in their FIFA rankings
Men team’s ranking
The Blue Tigers (Men) sit only ahead of New Zealand (103rd), who was eliminated from qualifying for the 2022 FIFA World Cup after falling to Costa Rica 0-1 in the intercontinental play-off earlier this month. With a two-place climb to move up to 104th in the most recent FIFA, global rankings revealed on Thursday, the Indian football team had a successful harvest from its xcellent Asian Cup qualification campaign. The Blue Tigers are ranked slightly below New Zealand (103rd), which missed out on a position in the 2022 FIFA World Cup after losing to Costa Rica 0-1 in the intercontinental play-off earlier this month.
However, India’s position among the members of the Asian Football Confederation remained constant at 19th. At number 23, Iran continued to hold the top rank among AFC nations.
The squad coached by Sunil Chhetri enjoyed their greatest ever Asian Cup qualifying campaign earlier this month, winning all three of their league matches to finish first in Group D and earn a spot in the 24-team Finals in 2023. For the first time, India qualified for back-to-back Asian Cups, making it the sixth qualifying overall. Three months after displacing Belgium from the top spot in the overall standings, Brazil is still in first place (2nd).
Women team’s ranking
The Indian women’s soccer team accomplished the remarkable achievement of moving up three spots in the most recent FIFA rankings to claim 56th position overall and 12th place in Asia. We try to consider the factors that contributed to the team’s increase in rankings as its ardent followers and players celebrate it. Despite having their World Cup hopes dashed earlier this year when they were forced to withdraw from the 2022 AFC Women’s Asian Cup due to a COVID outbreak in the camp, the Indian women’s team made up for it by defeating Egypt and Jordan in back-to-back games in a FIFA-recognized tri-nation friendly.
There are now many possibilities for women to play the game across India thanks to the success of the Indian national team. It includes things like the Indian Women’s League starting up again and the U17 National Football Championship beginning, among other things. In order to encourage youth growth in women’s football in India, the governing body has developed new methods as the U17 squad gets ready to play in the FIFA U17 World Cup in November. The development of talents has been facilitated by the increased frequency of organised camps and FIFA-recognized matches.
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