Notwithstanding the recent Nehru Cup triumph, India has slipped a place down to 169th in FIFA rankings, its worst in recent years. Ranked 32nd in Asia, India was placed at 168th in last month’s world rankings.
India is behind Maldives (159), Nepal (166) and Syria (148) who competed in the five-nation invitational Nehru Cup tournament. Runner-up Cameroon (61) was the other team in fray.
The win in the Nehru Cup was not considered as the tournament was not held on FIFA dates. And moreover, Cameroon did not send its main team.
Meanwhile, World and European champion Spain continued to maintain a big lead in the rankings.
It leads the way with 1,617 points into the opening European rounds of 2014 World Cup qualifying beginning on Friday. Germany is second on 1,437 and England third with 1,274.
Portugal moved into fourth with 1,232 at the expense of Uruguay (1,217) in the only change in the top 10.
The others in top 10 are Euro 2012 finalist Italy (1,174), Argentina (1,121), the Netherlands (1,044), Croatia (1,020) and Denmark (1,006).
