Jordan moves up eight spots in FIFA Rankings

By Aline Bannayan - Jun 10,2018 - Last updated at Jun 11,2018

AMMAN — Jordan went up eight spots to 110th when the latest FIFA Rankings were issued over the weekend. The jump was aided by a 3-0 win over Cyprus 3-0 last month in a new series of friendlies, as the local season ended and the squad shifted focus on preparation for the Asian Cup.

Jordan is set to host Lebanon on September 6 and Oman on the 11th. The team is lagging behind relatively uncompetitive Asian teams. Jordan ended 2017 in 107th spot — a position it did not better throughout last year.

Once among the Asia top 10, Jordan is now 19th in the continent trailing Australia (36), Iran (37), South Korea (57), Japan (61), Saudi Arabia (67), Syria (73), China (75), the UAE (77), Lebanon (79), Oman (84), Iraq (89), Kyrgyzstan (92), Uzbekistan (95), India (97), Qat

ar (98), Palestine (99), Vietnam (102) and North Korea (108).

Germany leads the top 10 World Rankings followed by Brazil, Belgium, Portugal, Argentina, Switzerland, France, Poland, Chile and Spain.

Tunisia is the top-ranked Arab team at 21st, followed by Morocco (41), Egypt (45), Algeria (66) and Saudi Arabia (67).

For the Kingdom advancing to the 2019 Asian Cup, set for the UAE in 2019, was not a difficult task against relatively

unknown teams in the Asian continent. The 24 teams were split to play in six groups. The top two from each group and four third placed teams will advance to the Round of 16. Jordan was drawn in Group B alongside Australia, Syria and Palestine.

Since first taking part in Asian Cup qualifiers in 1972, Jordan reached the Asian Championship three times. The pinnacle was at the 13th Asian Cup when they lost to Japan in the quarter-finals and jumped to the best ever FIFA Ranking of 37th in August 2004. It also reached the Asian Cup in 2011 and 2015.

After elimination from the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, qualifying to the Asian finals was a priority for Jordan which has steadily slid down FIFA rankings and the team has had inconsistent results compared to 2013 when Jordan was on the verge of qualifying to the 2014 World Cup for the first time.

Round 3 had been the furthest Jordan reached in the past seven times in the qualifiers since 1986.

Jordan’s lowest ranking was 152nd in 1996.