India slipped one place to 97th spot in the FIFA rankings, updated on 10th August, ahead of a proposed three-nation tournament in Mumbai and a crucial AFC Asian Cup 2019 qualifier against Macau in September.
A win over Macau may propel the Blue Tigers to their best ever rankings since they were launched more than two decades ago. A 1-0 result for India against 183rd-ranked Macau on the FIFA prognosis tool gives the team 365 ranking points, enough to propel them closer to their best-ever ranking of 94th.
They reached 99 in the world ranking’s inaugural year in 1993, before achieving an all-time high of 94 in February 1996. But the next two decades saw the Indian team in a downward spiral, slipping all the way to their lowest ebb of 173 in March 2015.
World champions Germany slipped to second spot in the rankings as Brazil ascended to the top spot. Die nationalmannschaft’s 2014 World Cup victory in Brazil in the month of July lost a significant amount of weightage in this window, enabling the Samba boys to reclaim top spot.
Switzerland and Poland gained one spot each to climb to fourth and fifth spots on the rankings, pushing Euro winners Portugal down to sixth place. Belgium rose to ninth, while France dropped down one spot, rounding off the top ten.