New Delhi: The embarrassing 0-1 defeat to Bangladesh in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers saw the Indian men's football team drop six places down to 142nd in the latest FIFA rankings, reflecting the national side's free fall in the last two years.
The Khalid Jamil-coached team lost to Bangladesh for the first time since 2003 in Dhaka on Tuesday, leaving the country's football fans deeply anguished at the continuous downward slide in its fortunes.
The team has already been knocked out of Asian Cup contention after losing to Singapore in Goa last month.
This was the worst ranking of the team since October 2016 when it was placed at 148th. The team has lost 40 places since December 2023 when it was ranked at 102nd. Since then, the team's ranking has been going south.
The FIFA issued the rankings on Wednesday.
The Indian team is now ranked 27th among the 46 Asian countries included in the FIFA rankings, with Japan on top at 18th, followed by Iran (20th), South Korea (22nd), Australia (26th) and Uzbekistan (50th).
India's best ever ranking was 94 in February 1996.