Iran remains 24th in FIFA Ranking, second in Asia
Iran retained the 24th spot in the latest FIFA Men’s Ranking, released by the world football’s governing body on Thursday.
Team Melli tallied 1553.23 points for the second place among the Asian Football Confederation’s member states – standing behind 20th-placed Japan (1588.59pts), which made it to the round of 16 at the World Cup in Qatar last November before suffering a shootout defeat against Croatia and then played to a 1-1 draw against Uruguay and was beaten 2-1 by Colombia in a couple of friendlies on home soil in March.
Knocked out in the World Cup group stage under ex-manager Carlos Queiroz, Iran shared the spoils with Russia in a 1-1 draw at Tehran’s Azadi Stadium during the latest FIFA international break – thanks to a Mehdi Taremi’s second-half equalizer from the spot – in what was new head coach Amir Qalenoei’s first game in charge.
Mohammad Mohebbi and Ramin Rezaeian bagged late goals to help Iran salvage a 2-1 victory over Kenya in a second friendly at home in March.
South Korea (27th), Australia (29th), Saudi Arabia (54th), and Qatar (61st) followed the top two in the AFC ranking.
Meanwhile, world champion Argentina dethroned Brazil and returned to the top of the FIFA Ranking after a six-year gap.
Argentina, which won the World Cup by beating France in a thrilling final, achieved the No. 1 spot after Lionel Scaloni’s side beat Panama 2-0 and Curacao 7-0 in friendlies.
France moved up one place to second after back-to-back wins against the Netherlands (4-0) and Ireland (1-0) in Euro 2024 qualifiers, while Brazil slipped to third after losing 2-1 away to Morocco in a friendly.
Belgium remained fourth and England was fifth, followed by the Netherlands in sixth, Croatia seventh and Italy eighth. Portugal and Spain completed the top 10.
The Central African Republic was the biggest mover in the rankings, jumping 10 places to 122nd.