India placed 22nd in new Asian football technical ranking

New Delhi: A new technical ranking system of the Asian Football Confederation has placed India in 22nd spot among the continent's 46-member countries, the highest among South Asian nations.

The technical ranking system released by the AFC recently takes into account the performance of the national team and clubs (at AFC competitions) of a particular country in the last four years and points are given accordingly.

National team's performance is based on lastest FIFA ranking points and this carries 30 per cent weightage in the calculation. The performance of the clubs of a particular country carries 70 per cent weightage and this is calculated based on the four latest Asian Champions League or AFC Cup seasons.

One AFC Cup point is equivalent to 1/3 of an AFC Champions League point. ACL is the top-tier football competition in Asia, while AFC Cup is the second tier league played among developing football of the continent like India.

Two Indian clubs play in the AFC Cup every year.

India, which lies at 27th spot among AFC countries in the latest FIFA rankings (at 155th), has?18.636 points (11.951 for performance by national team + 9.318 for performance by clubs) in its kitty in the latest technical rankings.

South Korea leads the technical rankings chart with 88.354 points (63.326+25.028), followed by Saudi Arabia (84.666), Iran (79.435), Japan (71.191), UAE (68.261), Australia (65.395), China (61.229), Qatar (56.280), Uzbekistan (52.334) and Kuwait (43.635) in top 10.

The country ranked number one in the national team ranking receives full marks (30 points). The other countries receive points proportionally less (based on the number of points obtained in the FIFA ranking) compared to the country ranked number one.

The country ranked number one in the club ranking receives full marks (70 points). The other countries receive points proportionally less (based on the number of points obtained in the AFC club ranking) compared to the country ranked number one.

Saudi Arabian clubs get 70 points each as their country is on top in terms of club performance, while Indian clubs get just 11.951 points.

Among the clubs, India's East Bengal, which took part in the AFC Cup in 2012, 2013 and 2015 occupy 74th spot with 15.724 points as the highest ranking Indian club out of 155 listed in the chart.

Churchill Brothers, which played in the AFC Cup in 2013 and 2014, and Bengaluru FC, which played in the AFC Cup last year, were placed at 102nd and 103rd with 10.057 and 9.890 points, respectively.

Overall, Guangzhou Evergrande of China is the top-ranked club in Asia with 113.768 points, followed by Al Hilal and Al Ahli, both of Saudi Arabia, with 109 and 91 points, respectively.