Vietnam retained its place among Southeast Asia’s top three teams as the International Football Federation (FIFA) announced the latest men’s world rankings on April 6.

The Vietnam men's national football team

The team ranked 136th globally and came third in the Southeast Asian region with 217 points, just behind the Philippines (world no. 127, 251 points) and Thailand (world no. 129, 245 points).

The top three rankings in Asia subsequently went to Iran (world no. 28, 820 points), the Republic of Korea (world no. 43, 700 points) and Japan (world no. 44, 685 points). Notably, Iran moved up five places to become the only Asian team to enter the world’s top 30.

Yemen and India recorded the most impressive jumps in Asia this month to 123rd (up 25 places) and 101st (up 31 places) position in the world, respectively.

Five-time world champions Brazil found its way back to the top spot in the FIFA rankings for the first time in seven years with 1661 points a result of a nine-month winning streak, including eight wins in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers.

South America dominated the world’s April standings, occupying four slots in the top five, including Brazil (no. 1), Argentina (no. 2), Chile (no. 4) and Colombia (no. 5). Germany ranked third with 1,464 points.

Macedonia recorded the biggest jump in FIFA rankings this month, moving up 33 places to 133rd in the world, while Liberia suffered the worst relegation, down 39 places to 141st position.

A total of 129 matches at the national team level were played worldwide over the past month.

The next FIFA rankings will be announced on May 4.

Nhan Dan