South Korea’s FIFA ranking has fallen one notch. The gap between Japan and Iran, Asia’s No. 1 and No. 2, has widened.
FIFA announced this year’s last ranking on its website on Tuesday. While Argentina remained at the top of the list, the rankings of the top five players remained unchanged, with France at the 2nd place, Spain at the 3rd place, England at the 4th place and Brazil at the 5th place.
Asian teams’ rankings have changed considerably. Asia’s No. 2 Iran moved up one spot from No. 19 to No. 18, while Japan maintained its 15th place, the best in Asia. Korea, on the other hand, moved down one spot from No. 22 to No. 23. Among the top three Asian players, only Korea has seen its ranking drop.
This is the aftermath of a draw against underdog Palestine (101st) in the third Asian qualifying round for the 2026 North-China World Cup held on the 19th. South Korea traded its ranking with Austria (1589.84 points), down 4.48 points from last month. South Korea, which had maintained its 23rd place in both July and September, raised its ranking one notch to 22nd last month, but finished the year falling back to 23rd.
Australia, which is struggling in the third Asian qualifying round for the North-China World Cup, fell two notches to 26th, and Qatar, which is also struggling, also fell two notches to 48th. 메이저사이트
The United Arab Emirates (UAE), led by head coach Paulo Bento, who won great victories over Kazakhstan (3-0) and Qatar (5-0) this month, jumped to 63rd, up five spots.
Indonesia, led by coach Shin Tae-yong, also jumped five notches from 130th to 125th, reflecting its victory against Saudi Arabia this month. China also jumped from 92nd to 90th. North Korea dropped three notches to 113th.