Jakarta. The Indonesian men’s football team has earned the most points among all teams and climbed eight spots in the FIFA ranking following their recent victories in the World Cup qualifiers.
With 30 points earned, Indonesia's surge in the rankings was the most significant in the latest world ranking update published on the FIFA website on Thursday.
Indonesia now sits at 134th in global football rankings, and at third in Southeast Asia. This remarkable climb follows a previous advancement in the February update, where the Garuda team rose by four positions after advancing to the last 16 of the Asia Cup for the first time in history.
The recent impressive performance comes after the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) under the leadership of Erick Thohir actively recruited naturalized players for the national team. In the latest international match against Vietnam, coach Shin Tae-Yong fielded 10 naturalized players.
During the World Cup qualifying matches, Indonesia secured consecutive victories over Vietnam, edging closer to the third round and needing just one more win against Iraq or the Philippines.
Conversely, these results led to Vietnam dropping 10 spots and losing 30 points, marking the largest decline in position and points according to Thursday’s update.
Nevertheless, Vietnam remains the second-best team in Southeast Asia, just behind Thailand.
World champion Argentina maintains its position as the best men’s football team in the world, followed closely by France, trailing by 17 points.
Belgium has overtaken England to claim the third spot, with both teams separated by just 0.33 of a point.
