Afghanistan move up of India and Pakistan in FIFA rankings

[Sher Malang]

by Javed Hamim Kakaron Jul 5, 2012 - 17:01

KABUL (PAN): Despite a serious lack of soccer facilities, Afghanistan has moved ahead of India and Pakistan in the latest global football rankings, scoring 122 points.

The rankings on the International Football Federation (FIFA) website on Thursday placed Afghanistan in 162nd position among the 208 soccer-playing nations. In 2011, the country was ranked 164th.

Ranked 163rd, India gained 121points. Pakistan ended up in the 172nd spot with 72 points. Afghanistan’s other neighbour, Iran, performed remarkably well by winning 581 points to grab the 50th slot.

Footballer Hadi Kazimi, pleased with the country’s current standing, told Pajhwok Afghan News that FIFA’s monthly rankings were based on the evaluation of international teams.

He recalled Afghanistan had stunned the world by upsetting India, Nepal and Sri Lanka some months back. He hoped they could spring even greater surprises if the government paid due attention to promoting the sport.

Source: Afghanistan move up in FIFA rankings | Pajhwok Afghan News

Fifa Ranking Index: FIFA.com - The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking - Ranking Table

 

[Vibs]

Good for you. Our current football team..well..sucks. Usual excuses are lack of infra and support structure, but it's heartening to see Afghanistan which cannot boast of these things either do well.

 

[Pukhtoon]

I hope they get rid of this cricket and just concentrate on Football !

 

[Cherokee]

Great News . We can have a Asia Cup for Football . will be fun

 

[Baby Leone]

Good News!!!! & we are always busy in cricket despite Pakistan have got huge talent in football in balochistan & Karachi, now so many ppls in Pakistan taking intrests in football but again its always cricket on top....

 

[Sher Malang]

I hope they get rid of this cricket and just concentrate on Football !

I too wish the same despite of providing 5mln$ yearly to our cricket board they couldn't managed to get a status of Associate but our football team has managed to get all those point with only a donated ground by FIFA in Kabul.

Good for you. Our current football team..well..sucks. Usual excuses are lack of infra and support structure, but it's heartening to see Afghanistan which cannot boast of these things either do well.

Man you guys have very good infrastructure, coaches and funds if we had the same today our ranking would be under 100.

I think so much concentration on cricket has affected India's football team performance.

 

[third eye]

We have goofed it big time on Hockey.

Cricket runs more for the money involved.

Soccer used to be the most popular sport , wonder why we cannot move forward , no funding perhaps ?

@ subject. Good for Af. One hopes it does well.

 

[Baby Leone]

I wonder why ICC have limited countries policy...?

just see the football ranking its 208 countries & ICC ranking always have 10 countries competing each others, why is that so?

 

[Sher Malang]

I wonder why ICC have limited countries policy...?

just see the football ranking its 208 countries & ICC ranking always have 10 countries competing each others, why is that so?

I wonder too, can somebody explain this?

 

[atulya]

great ,feeling happy, when afganistan do something nice, that also better than india.

 

[integra]

Good to know Afghanistan has moved up the ladder quite well this time.
It seems they've jumped 6 points ahead , big move.

I'm surprised to see Nepal is ahead of it's bigger neighbours, didn know
even if they have a flat piece of land large enough to accomodate a football field!

FIFA.com - The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking - Ranking Table

 

[sab]

Afghanistan played fantastically in SAFF championship. They were dominating the final untill their GK got a red card by abusing the referee. However, most of the players were Afghans based in foreign countries thus familiar with higher level. However, this facility is not available for India due to citizenship policy. I hope to see Afghanistan team participating in Nehru Cup this year. One of their best player Amiri now plays for Mumbai FC.

 

[Avisheik]

Congrats afghanistan.

I saw the afghan team players on wiki, quite a lot of them plays for european clubs. Other south asian nations should follow suit

 

[sab]

Good to know Afghanistan has moved up the ladder quite well this time.
It seems they've jumpe 6 points ahead this time, big move.

I'm surprised to see Nepal is ahead of it's bigger neighbours, didn know
even if they have a flat piece of land large enough to accomodate a football field!

FIFA.com - The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking - Ranking Table

Nepal and Bangladesh managed valuable points during World Cup qualifiers. Because of their poor ranking both of them had to play an extra round (qualifier of the qualifier). Nepal got East Timor and BD got Pakistan to face. They won both -home and away matches and secured a lot of points. FIFA ranking system have more points for WC qualifiers than any other tournament , three times more than a friendly match and more point for win than a draw. Surprisingly , in the equation the ranking of the opponent doesnt matter much. Other teams from South Asia like India and Maldives got UAE and Iran to face. India lost the away match 0-3 and drew the home match 2-2. Nepal is still cashing on that victory against E Timor despite getting hammered by Jordon 0-9 in the next round.

 

[Cherokee]

Good to know Afghanistan has moved up the ladder quite well this time.
It seems they've jumped 6 points ahead , big move.

I'm surprised to see Nepal is ahead of it's bigger neighbours, didn know
even if they have a flat piece of land large enough to accomodate a football field!

FIFA.com - The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking - Ranking Table

Nepali's are tough as nails . Ever heard of Gurkhas . Also since they have lived generation after generation in high altitude , low oxygen environment they have greater stamina , low body weight and are very quick on their feet .