Afghanistan stands 142nd in fresh FIFA ranking

KABUL ranking, holding top spot in south Asia.

FIFA, the governing body of world soccer, updated its rankings on Saturday, and Afghanistan secured 22^nd place in Asia, while Iran remained as the top-ranked team. Japan and South Korea ranked 2^nd and 3^rd respectively.

Germany secured the top post dominating world football, followed by Argentina, Colombia, Belgium, Holland, Brazil, Portugal, France and Spain.

United States, Russia, Israel, Iran and China secured 27^th, 31^st, 32^nd, 51^st and 96^th places respectively. Pakistan ranked 188^th, India 171^st, Sri Lanka 172^nd, Bangladesh 165^th and Nepal 186^th in the latest FIFA world rankings.

Bhutan shared 209^th place, the lowest in the world. Hadi Kazmi former footballer said, Afghanistan did not have major international matches recently to improve its ranking.

In 2013, Afghanistan became south Asian champion by beating India in the finals and rose to 129^th spot, the highest position the country ever held.

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