India Football team takes drop in FIFA ranking, slips to 97th spot

New Delhi: The Indian national football team have dropped a place to the 97th spot in the latest Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) rankings.

The downward movement in the rankings came as India did not play a single international match in last one month. India are currently on 341 points and are lagging four points behind 96th placed Zambia.

Stephen Constantine's side, who last played against Nepal and clinched a 2-0 win in a friendly at home, had reached their best rankings in July this year when they climbed up by four places to an unprecedented 96th spot, their second-best ranking of all time.

It was also India's best-ever FIFA Ranking since February 1996 when India were also ranked 94. It is also India's highest ranking under Constantine.

The Gurpreet Singh Sandhu-led side were ranked 171 when Constantine took over as the national team's coach for the second time in February 2015. Since then, India have moved up by 77 places in the rankings over the last two years.

It should be noted that India have now won 13 of their last 15 matches and are unbeaten in the last eight matches.