Moving up 10 places in the latest FIFA rankings, Iran’s national football team continues to be the highest ranked Asian nation.
According to Varzesh3 website, in the February edition of FIFA rankings released on Thursday, Team Melli is now ranked 41st in the world and first in Asia.
The Asian Cup saw plenty of movement among the AFC. Asian Cup runners up South Korea jumped up 15 spots to be the second in Asia and 54th in the world.
The Socceroos have leapt 37 places on the back of their Asian Cup triumph to be ranked 63rd in the world and fourth in Asia just after Japan.
Semi-finalists Iraq jumped 20 places to 94. Despite a shock quarter-final loss to the UAE, Japan only dropped one place to 55, the biggest losers being Qatar who dropped 17 spots to 109.
Australia’s 37-position climb was not the biggest in the latest addition of the rankings though. African minnows Equatorial Guinea jumped a huge 69 places to be ranked 49 in the world on the back of their African Cup of Nations performance, where they finished fourth when losing a penalty shootout to DR Congo.
At the top, Germany maintained their No.1 ranking ahead of Argentina, Colombia, Belgium and the Netherlands and there were no new entries into the top 10.
African champions Ivory Coast did crack the top 20 though, moving up eight spots to be ranked the world game’s 20th-best side.
