Football: India drops to 145th place in FIFA rankings

New Delhi: Indian football team dropped one place to 145th in the latest FIFA rankings issued on Wednesday, following their three-match all-loss show at last month`s Asian Cup in Doha.

India even lost six points from their previous month`s kitty. With 126 points, India is 26th, a drop of one place from last month, among the 46 countries which form the Asian Football Confederation. Asian Cup champions Japan jumped 12 places to topple Australia, who finished runners-up in Doha, as AFC`s top team at 17 in the FIFA charts. Australia also gained five places to be at 21st, followed by South Korea (32nd) who finished third in the Asian Cup, Iran (44th) who jumped 21 places up the order, and China (75th). Fourth-place finisher Uzbekistan gained 31 places, the most among all countries in this month`s FIFA chart, to be at 77th overall and sixth among AFC members.Jordan, who reached the quarterfinals after defeating Saudi Arabia and Syria while drawing Japan, jumped 23 places to be at 84th overall and eighth among AFC countries. Among the 16 teams which participated in the January 7-29 Asian Cup in Doha, India, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia -- all of them were eliminated in the group stage -- dropped down from their previous positions. In the overall rankings, there was no change in the top nine led by world champions Spain, with Greece rising to top 10 after gaining one spot. Last month`s 10th place occupier, Egypt nosedived 23 places to 33rd. PTI