Malaysia’s FIFA Ranking Drops Further
January 1, 1970
The latest world football ranking issued by Fifa sees the Malaysian team dropping further to 165 from 164 in January after being pipped by Pakistan.
The latest list obtained from the Fifa website Monday saw the Malaysian squad, who are aspiring to qualify for the World Cup, languishing at the bottom together with minnows.
The other countries at the bottom include Seychelles (163), Netherlands Antilles (161), Tahiti (159), Turks and Caicos Islands (158), and Myanmar (157) which lack basic infrastructure such as fields, stadiums and sports equipment.
On the other hand, countries which are at war such as Palestine (162), Myanmar (157), Liberia (145), Chad (143), Lebanon (141) and last year’s Asia Cup champion, Iraq, put up better showing.
Malaysia’s lower ranking was due to the poor performance at international competitions especially during the Asia Cup championship and SEA Games in Korat, Thailand last year.
In the Asia Cup in July, Malaysia, as the host, became the whipping boys in the group matches losing to China 1-5, Uzbekistan 0-5, and Iran 0-2 while in the SEA Games in Korat, the Malaysian team failed to qualify for the semifinals.
After reaching their highest ranking of 79th position in 1993, Malaysia took a nosedive following several internal factors.
The current ranking of 165 is the worst ever for Malaysia since 15 years ago, where they are now among the 36 bottom teams in the Fifa list of 201 countries.
In addition, their position among the 46 countries in the Asian continent has also dropped from 27th to 32nd.
Meanwhile, the performance […]
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