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Jordan down to 115th in FIFA Rankings

By Aline Bannayan - Mar 09,2017 - Last updated at Mar 09,2017

AMMAN — Jordan slid further down to 115th in the latest FIFA Rankings issued on Thursday.

The squad is still out of the Asian top 10 trailing Iran (33), South Korea (40), Japan (51), Australia (55), Saudi Arabia (57), Uzbekistan (63), the UAE (68), Qatar (84), China (86) and Syria (95). 

World rankings top 10 are led by Argentina at No. 1, followed by Brazil, Germany, Chile, Belgium, France, Columbia, Portugal, Uruguay and Spain.

African semifinalist Egypt is the top ranked Arab team at 20th, followed by Tunisia 37th, Morocco 49th and Algeria 50th.

Jordan last played 126th ranked Georgia 1-0 in the first match under Emirati head coach Abdullah Misfer. The squad will regroup next week for a friendly against Hong Kong, which comes amid preparations for the 2019 Asian Cup qualifiers kicking off on March 28. Jordan will open against Cambodia in Group C which also includes Afghanistan and Vietnam.

The qualifiers which will start March 28 and end on March 27, 2018, will see teams playing in six groups with group winners and four best runners-up (total 12 teams) advancing o the 2019 AFC Asian Cup finals, as well as the final round of qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. 

Teams already having qualified include Australia, China, Iraq, Iran, Japan, South Korea, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Thailand, Uzbekistan and hosts the UAE.

Over the past year, Jordan was plagued with inconsistent results and a change of five coaches as the team was eliminated from the 2018 World Cup qualifiers. Now, the team aims to get pats Asian qualifiers and advance to the Asian finals. 

Since first taking part in Asian Cup qualifiers in 1972, Jordan reached the championship three times. The pinnacle was at the 13th Asian Cup, when they lost to Japan in the quarter-finals in 2004. They also reached the Asian Cup in 2011 and 2015.

The Kingdom had the most memorable World Cup qualifying journey in 2013 when it lost a possible chance to play at the World Cup for the first time and advanced to play then World’s 6th ranked Uruguay in an intercontinental qualifying tie for a place in the 2014 World Cup. It lost the home game 5-0 and held the former World Cup champs 0-0 in the away match. Jordan had never reached that far in World Cup qualifying since taking part in the qualifiers. Round 3 had been the furthest Jordan reached in the past seven times in the qualifiers since 1986. 

 

Jordan’s best FIFA Ranking was 37th in 2004, while the lowest ranking was 152nd in 1996.

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