Indian football team rises five places to 101 in latest FIFA rankings

New Delhi: The Indian men's football team on Thursday moved up five places to be at 101st spot in the FIFA rankings, riding on the wins over Myanmar and Kyrgyzstan in the recent Tri-nation tournament.

The 1-0 and 2-0 wins over Myanmar and Kyrgyzstan respectively in Imphal last month ensured that India gained 8.57 rating points and five spots, up from the previous 106th spot, to be just one place away from top-100.

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.

With 1200.66 total points, the Igor Stimac-coached team is, however, at 19th place among 46 Asian nations.

India's best ranking was 94th, attained in 1996. The country had rarely breached the top-100.

World champions Argentina rose one place to be on top of the list, followed by France, Brazil, Belgium, England, Netherlands, Croatia, Italy, Portugal and Spain in the top 10.

Japan is the top-ranked side among Asian countries.