FIFA rankings: Indian football team drops four places to 121
New Delhi, Apr 4: The Indian football men's team dropped four places to 121 in the latest FIFA rankings, its worst in recent years, following an embarrassing 1-2 defeat against Afghanistan in the second round of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers in Guwahati last month.
The Igor Stimac-coached side, which had broken into the top-100 last year, having won the Intercontinental Cup, the Tri-Nations tournament and the SAFF Championship, on March 26 suffered a shocking defeat at home to lowly-ranked Afghanistan to continue its poor run of late.
Even though the team registered a win against Kuwait in the World Cup qualifiers, its first away win in over two decades, the forgettable outing at the AFC Asian Cup 2023 in Qatar, where the side lost all its matches without scoring a single goal, saw it plummet 15 spots to 117th after the continental tournament.
India ended their Asian Cup campaign in January pointless and goal-less after losing to Australia (0-2), Uzbekistan (0-3) and Syria (0-1). It finished at the bottom of the four-team Group B.
Last month, the Blue Tigers were held to a goalless draw by Afghanistan in their first leg second round World Cup qualifiers in Abha, Saudi Arabia, and then lost the home fixture, prompting outrage from fans and calls for sacking of Stimac.
India's worst ranking, though, is 173.
Before dropping 15 places to 117 in March, the Indian team was placed at 102nd in the FIFA rankings, issued on December 21, 2023.
Reigning world champions Argentina continue to top the chart followed by 2022 World Cup runners-up France, England, Belgium and Brazil.
Netherlands occupy the sixth place and they are followed by Portugal, Spain and Italy with Croatia completing the top 10.
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BJP drops Brij Bhushan, fields his son from Kaiserganj, picks Dinesh Pratap Singh for Rae Bareli
New Delhi, May 2: Ending weeks of speculation, the BJP on Thursday named Karan Bhushan Singh as its Lok Sabha candidate from the Kaiserganj seat, replacing his father and incumbent MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who is facing criminal charges of sexually harassing women wrestlers.
The party also named Dinesh Pratap Singh as its candidate from Raebareli, a Gandhi family bastion which has been won by former Congress president Sonia Gandhi for five consecutive times. She is now a Rajya Sabha MP and the Congress is yet to announce its candidate for the seat.
While Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh may have been denied the ticket, the fact that the seat's contest remains within the family shows how influential the Thakur leader and six-time MP is in the region and the party.
भाजपा की केंद्रीय चुनाव समिति ने आगामी लोकसभा चुनाव 2024 हेतु अपनी 17वीं सूची में निम्नलिखित दो नामों पर अपनी स्वीकृति प्रदान की है। pic.twitter.com/BzbzxikzVM
— BJP (@BJP4India) May 2, 2024
