Australia overtakes Iran as Asia's No.1

Bengaluru, June 8: Australia received a big boost ahead of the Russia World Cup Australas they asasas they climbed up four spots to 36th place to overtake Iran as Asia's top-ranked team, in the latest FIFA world rankings in which the top three positions remained unchanged as Germany, Brazil and Belgium held on to their positions.

The Socceroos are going to compete in their fifth World Cup and fourth in a row under Dutchman Bert van Marwijk, who replaced Aussie Ange Postecoglou, who had coached them throughout the Road to Russia.

In Russia, the Socceroos, are drawn in Group C along with France, Peru and Denmark. They begin their campaign on June 16 at Kazan against pre-tournament favourites France.

.@Socceroos to be Asia's top-ranked team at @FIFAWorldCup - https://t.co/Wj9tYY80us #GoSocceroos pic.twitter.com/xcASgjcCe9

— Caltex Socceroos (@Socceroos) June 7, 2018

Iran dropped one place down to 37, followed by South Korea, who moved four rungs up to 57th after their impressive 2-0 win over Honduras last month.
Japan fell one spot to 61, while Saudi Arabia's ranking remain unchanged at 67th to complete Asia's top five teams, who will begin their Russia 2018 campaigns next week.

Jordan also made great strides to become Asia's biggest mover, climbing eight spots to 110th

Meanwhile, the recent flurry of pre-2018 World Cup Russia friendly matches has also left its mark on the FIFA rankings.

The Russia-bound duo of Poland (8th, up 2) and Uruguay (14th, up 3) have succeeded in making strides within the top 20.

Wales (18th, up 3) have also climbed into that elite group, while further down the ranking El Salvador (72, up 13), Azerbaijan (105, up 21), New Zealand (120, up 13), Kosovo (141, up 11), and Papua New Guinea (166, up 14) all registered significant gains.

There is cause to celebrate, too, for Syria (73, up 3), Lebanon (79, up 3) and Gibraltar (195, up 1), with all three - along with the aforementioned Kosovans - having ascended to their best-ever positions on the global ladder.

The FIFA rankings makes less pleasant reading though for Spain (10th, down 2), who swapped places with the Poles, Tunisia (21, down 7) and the Turks and Caicos Islands (206th, down 4), who slumped to the bottom of the table after joining Anguilla, Bahamas, Eritrea, Somalia and Tonga on zero points.

The next FIFA ranking will be released on July 19, four days, after the conclusion of the quadrennial extravaganza in Russia.

(With FIFA/AFC inputs).