India are up to 12th in the latest club competition rankings released by the Asian Football Confederation on Monday, the 23rd of October.
The club competition rankings are a comparative assessment of the performance of the clubs belonging to various Member Associations (MA) falling under the AFC umbrella.
India, previously in 15th, shot up to 12th based on a two-pronged improvement: their FIFA points have gone up considerably and points won in club competitions, the cumulative total of the last four years considered, has improved due to Bengaluru FC reaching the final of the AFC Cup in 2016, following that up with a semi-final finish in 2017.
While Mohun Bagan, the other Indian team in Asian club competition this year, failed to make it past the initial group stage, finishing third with two wins, last year, Bagan had made the round of 16 of the AFC Cup. Club points are an average of the performances of all the teams from the same MA in one season.
Iraq, on the basis of Air Force Club’s AFC Cup win over Bengaluru in 2016 and on account of having reached the final this season, sit one place above India in 11th.
Tajikistan, home to BFC’s conquerors in the 2017 AFC Cup are 16th. India as a MA, are counted in the South Zone and fall into the West Asia circle which comprises the West and South Zones of Asia.
India are currently 7th in West Asia, behind UAE (1), Saudi Arabia (4), Qatar (6), Iran (7), Uzbekistan (9) and Iraq (11).