India’s surge in the Fifa rankings continued as they jumped four places to an unprecedented 96th spot in the latest standings, announced by football’s governing body on Thursday. As a result, Stephen Constantine’s team are also currently 12th in the Asian Football Confederations’ rankings table.
The Blue Tigers are now within touching distance of their best-ever ranking of 94th, which was achieved in February 1996. This is also their second-best ranking of all time, overtaking their 99th ranking in November 1993.
A string of good results over the last two years has seen India climb a whopping 77 places during this period. They are unbeaten in 13 of their last 15 matches.
India were ranked 171 when Constantine took over as coach for the second time in February 2015 and slipped to 173 in March 2015.
“It’s a giant leap of faith for Indian football. Two years back, we were 173 and now we have reached our second best Fifa ranking ever,” said Praful Patel, president of the All India Football Federation. “The leap signifies the potential of Indian football.”
Kushal Das, the general secretary of AIFF, added: “This comes as a huge boost ahead of our next AFC Asian Cup qualifying match against Macau on September 5. Hats off to the team for giving it their all in achieving this milestone. Qualifying for the AFC Asian Cup 2019 stays our top priority.”
Constantine, while congratulating the board and team for its recent achievement, warned that tougher challenges lay ahead for the side, and urged them to stay focused, “When I took over, I had mentioned that my target was to bring India below 100. I am happy to have played a small part in this process. I also need to thank Mr Patel and Mr Das for their trust in allowing me to do things in the manner I wanted.”
He added, “But the present Fifa spot doesn’t mean that we have achieved much. We need to stay focused on the upcoming challenges.”
The team is currently eyeing a spot in the 2019 Asian Cup. The last time they qualified for the tournament was in 2011 in Doha.
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