The Peninsula
Newly crowned Asian champions Qatar have jumped 38 spots to 55 in FIFA /Coca-Cola World Ranking, their best position since 1993, after their stunning victory at Asian Cup.
Qatar is now the top-ranked country in the Gulf region and fifth in Asia.
Fellow finalists Japan jumped 23 places to rank 27th, while the Korea Republic is 38th, up 15 and Jordan 97th, up 12. There were also significant upwards moves by the likes of Iraq (80th, up 8), Iran (22nd, up 7) and Uzbekistan (89th, up 6).
Another consequence of these changes is that Asia has boosted its numbers in the Ranking’s top 50. The AFC is now represented by four teams, up one on the last edition, and now stands level with Africa, whose numbers have been depleted by Congo DR (51st, down 2) dropping out.
The AFC Asian Cup has been responsible for almost all the notable changes in the first Ranking of 2019. As there were not many games in other confederations, the top 20 remains unchanged with Belgium retaining the pole position.
The next FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking will be published on 4 April 2019.