DOHA: Al-Annabi dropped 10 spots to 60th in the world after losing all three of its matches at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, according to the latest FIFA Coca-Cola World Ranking, released today. Qatar is ranked 59th with a total of 1393.56 points, just ahead of Northern Ireland (1396.55 points, while Panama are ranked 61st, with 1391.70 points.
Al-Annabi came in sixth place in Asia and the Arab world. At the Asian level, Japan are at the top of the rankings, ranked 20th in the world, above Iran (24), South Korea (25), Australia (27), Saudi Arabia (49), Qatar (60), Iraq (68), the UAE (70). As for the Arab world, the leader is Morocco, who are followed by Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar.
The thrilling FIFA World Cup left a large imprint on the FIFA Coca-Cola World Ranking, with a number of teams making substantial advancements as a result of their performances during the tournament.
For example, Morocco (11th, +11) and Australia (27th, +11) are the two teams that advanced the most in the latest rankings, with the Atlas Lions also claiming the title of the most improved team after gaining 142 points, more than any other team since the end of 2021. The Moroccans are now in their best position since April 1998.
Teams such as Cameroon (33rd, +10), Croatia (7th, +5) and Japan (20th, +4) also benefited from positive results in Qatar, while other teams did not live up to expectations, such as Denmark (18th, -8) and Belgium (4th, -2) for example.
As for the World Cup champions, Argentina (2nd, +1), they moved ahead but narrowly lost out on top spot. Only two points prevented Argentina from beating their rivals Brazil (first, unchanged). If they had managed to keep the score at 2-0 and beat France in regular time, Lionel Scaloni’s team would have been in first place now.
In terms of the ranking of the top ten teams, Brazil retained the top spot of the rankings with 1840.77 points, despite its exit from the quarter-finals of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
The Argentine national team, the world champions, rose one place to occupy the runner-up in the classification, while France advanced one place also, occupying third place.
Belgium fell to fourth place, while England retained fifth place. Croatia rose from 12th to seventh after reaching the semi-finals and finishing third in the World Cup, while Spain fell from seventh to tenth place, and the Netherlands advanced from eighth to sixth. Italy is ranked eighth, while Portugal retained its ninth position.
Source: Qatar Football Association