China News Service, Beijing, February 15th. On the 15th, Beijing time, FIFA released the latest men’s national team world rankings. The Chinese team fell 9 places from the previous period to 88th. The poor record in the Asian Cup is the main reason for the decline in the national football rankings.
The last time FIFA released its world rankings was at the end of last year, when the Chinese team ranked 79th and 11th in Asia. In this past scoring cycle, the Chinese team’s main task was to prepare for and participate in the Asian Cup in Qatar. But regardless of the warm-up match or the main match, the performance of the national football team was not ideal.
Among all the participating teams in the Asian Cup, the national football team assembled earlier and had a longer training period. However, the final result was disappointing. In the group stage, the national football team drew with the Tajikistan team and the Lebanese team, which were far lower than themselves in the world rankings, without having an advantage. After losing 0:1 in the final round to the host Qatar team, which started with a rotating lineup, the national football team failed to score a goal in three games and was declared eliminated.
In this Asian Cup, the national football team finally ranked 18th among the 24 participating teams, setting a new record for the worst Asian Cup in team history. Therefore, the decline in world rankings is also expected. Within Asia, the national football team was surpassed by Jordan and Bahrain, and its ranking dropped to 13th.
National football team in this Asian Cup
The Jordanian team, which reached the Asian Cup final for the first time, is the biggest dark horse in this cup. They also earned enough points and ranked among the top 10 in Asia. Although they lost to Qatar 1:3 in the end and missed the championship, the Korean team achieved one win and one draw in the two games, which is enough to show that the Jordan team's promotion to the finals was not just luck.
The Bahrain team also successfully qualified for the group stage in this Asian Cup. In the quarter-finals, they lost 1:3 to the Japanese team, the favorite to win the championship.
Since FIFA established the ranking system, the lowest ranking in the history of the national football team was 109th in March 2013. The team's head coach at the time was Spanish coach Camacho.
The Chinese team was ranked 96th in the world in March 2016 and rose to 81st in April of that year. Since then, the lowest world ranking for the national football team was 86th, until this update. In other words, the current 88th position of the national football team is the team's worst ranking in the past nearly eight years.
The national football team in this Asian Cup. Picture source: Visual China
Just at the beginning of this month, FIFA announced the 2026 World Cup schedule for the United States, Canada and Mexico. This is the first World Cup with 48 teams participating, and the Asian quota has also increased to 8.5. However, judging from the performance of this Asian Cup and the current situation of ranking 13th in Asia, it is difficult for the national football team to compete in the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Next month, the national football team will face the Singapore team at home and away in the World Cup preliminaries. If they want to enter the next round of 18, the team must try their best to win these two games.
Can the national football team, which is in a trough, complete this task? (over)