Indonesia's Movement In The FIFA Rankings Is Thin, But Efforts To Improve Football Achievements Are Starting To Appear

Indonesian National Team (Instagram.com/@pssi)

JAKARTA - The International Football Federation (FIFA) has released the latest ranking list on Thursday, March 31. In the latest ranking, good news comes for Indonesia which shows improvement.

Although not too conspicuous, Indonesia's ranking in the FIFA rankings has increased from 160 to 159. Even though the movement is thin, this one figure proves that efforts to improve the country's football achievements are starting to show.

The increase in position is also surprising because Indonesia has not played any FIFA Matchday matches this month. This is because coach Shin Tae-yong is focusing on handling the U-19 national team with a training camp in South Korea in preparation for appearing in the 2023 U-20 World Cup.

On the other hand, this latest FIFA ranking also shows sweet results for Brazil. The Samba team successfully reclaimed the top position of FIFA and shifted Belgium.

The first FIFA ranking was able to be reclaimed by Brazil after five years after being evicted from the highest position. In his last opportunity five years ago, the Selecao became the defending champion with a long enough duration of around 4,731 days or 1.2 decades.

In the latest FIFA ranking list, Brazil was able to return to the top thanks to an impressive performance in the Qatar 2022 World Cup Qualifiers. The Samba team won 4-0 against Chile, they also made Bolivia lose 0-4 on the same occasion.

The Selecao's victory automatically shifted Belgium from the top of the FIFA rankings. Belgium, which has been at the top of the FIFA rankings in the last three years, had to be willing to lose the top position after being held to a 2-2 draw with the Republic of Ireland in a friendly match, 26 March.

Not only Brazil, a significant change in the ranks of the top 10 FIFA rankings is also felt by Mexico, which has now risen to ninth position. Even though from the release as of last February 10, Mexico is still in 12th position.

Meanwhile, Italy, who is ranked 6th in FIFA, will miss the 2022 World Cup in Qatar in November. The March 31 FIFA rankings were then also released to serve as a benchmark for FIFA in determining the seeded team in the 2022 World Cup drawing which is planned to be held in Doha, Qatar, Friday, April 1 evening local time.

Here are the Top 10 FIFA Rankings as of March 31

1. Brazil2. Belgium3. France4. Argentina5. English6. Italy7. Spain8. Portugal9. Mexico10. Dutch

159. Indonesian