DOHA: Asian champions Qatar climbed one place to 48th in the latest FIFA Ranking, announced by the game’s governing body, on Thursday.
Iran are the other Asian side to move one place (22nd, plus 1) as there are no changes to the top 20 from June, with most of the 58 international men’s fixtures taking place in Africa and Asia.
Qatar, the FIFA World Cup hosts, are currently featuring in a Four-Nation friendly tournament in Austria as they prepare to make their maiden appearance in the game’s biggest spectacle.
Al Annabi will play their final match of the event against Jamaica on Thursday after edging Ghana in their second game. They started the event with a draw against Morocco.
Meanwhile, Brazil remained top in the August edition of the FIFA World Ranking with Belgium and Argentina still their closest challengers in second and third respectively.
There are two countries – Mauritania (107th, plus 3) and Botswana (146th, plus 3) – who have been posting good results, as reflected by a climb of three places each in the standings.
That progress makes them jointly the two most-improved sides in terms of places.
Outside the top 100, in addition to the aforementioned African duo, Mozambique (116th, plus 2) and Angola (120th, plus 2) also made up ground among CAF sides, as did Bermuda (168th, plus 2) in CONCACAF.