DOHA: Two-time Asian champions Qatar endured the biggest slump in latest FIFA rankings dropping 10 places to 44th in the standings announced by the governing body on Thursday. The huge fall is a result of Marquez Lopez-coached side’s sluggish start to their FIFA 2026 World Cup Asian Qualifiers Round 3 where they lost to lower-ranked United Arab Emirates and were held by North Korea in their opening matches earlier this month. Qatar are now ranked fifth best among the Arab nations led by World Cup semi-finalists Morocco (ranked 14th), who are followed by Egypt, (31st, 5 up), Tunisia 36th, 5 up) and Algeria (41st, 5 up).
Qatar will meet Kyrgyzstan and Tehran in their next World Cup qualifying games next month. Meanwhile, Argentina and France respectively retained their top two positions in the rankings. World champions Argentina remain atop of the standing with 1889.
02 points, and France 1851.92 points. Spain are in third place with 1836.
42 points, followed by England (4th), Brazil (5th), and Belgium (6th). The top ten teams remains unchanged as the Netherlands, Portugal, Colombia and Italy occupy the next four spots. A total of 184 international matches were played in September as FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifiers, continental competitions and friendlies were contested everywhere around the world.
Japan, meanwhile, consolidated their spot as top-ranked Asian side, moving two positions up to 16th followed by Iran (19th) and South Korea (23rd)..
