Jordan dips further in FIFA rankings

AMMAN — Jordan dipped to 112th in the latest FIFA rankings issued on Thursday.

The squad is still out of the Asian top 10, trailing Iran (32), South Korea (39), Japan (52), Australia (54), Saudi Arabia (56), Uzbekistan (63), UAE (68), Qatar (85) China (86) and Syria (93). 

The world ranking is led by Argentina in first place, ahead of Brazil, Germany, Chile, Belgium, France, Columbia, Portugal, Uruguay and Spain. 

African semi finalist Egypt is the top ranked Arab team at 23rd, followed by Tunisia (36), Morocco (48) and Algeria (50).

The national team has just returned from a training camp in the UAE, during which Jordan beat 125th ranked Georgia in the first match under new head coach Abdullah Misfer, from the UAE, with Jamal Abu Abed as coach and Abdullah Abu Zameh as assistant.

The camp and a match against Hong Kong in March are part of preparations for the 2019 Asian Cup qualifiers kicking off in March. The draw put Jordan in Group C with Afghanistan, Vietnam and Cambodia.

A total of 24 teams were divided into six groups, with the top two from each group moving on to the finals. The qualifiers will start March 28 and end on March 27, 2018.

After putting behind elimination from the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, Jordan is hopeful it will overcome the upcoming Asian qualifiers and advance to the Asian finals. 

Observers have been scrutinising the national's team's plan over the past period, as its performance has been marked by a combination of inconsistent results and frequent changes in coaches.  

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

Jordan's FIFA ranking