In Asia, Vietnam ranked 16th, also up one place from the previous month, and maintained the No 1 position in Southeast Asia.

Meanwhile, Thailand, the Southeast Asian runner-up, fell three places to the 114th globally.

The top five in Asia remained Japan (20th globally), Iran (24th), the Republic of Korea (27th), Australia (29th), and Saudi Arabia (54th).

Argentina topped the March rankings, followed by France and Brazil.

The March FIFA men’s world rankings are particularly important to the teams competing at the 2023 AFC Asian Cup since their positions in this list will be the basis for the Asian Football Federation (AFC) to seed them before the tournament draw.

With the 16th place in Asia, Vietnam will be in Pot 3, together with Bahrain, Syria, Palestine, Kyrgyzstan, and Lebanon. Meanwhile, other Southeast Asian teams, namely Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia, will be in Pot 4 together with India, Tajikistan, and Hong Kong.

Pot 1 comprises host Qatar, Japan, Iran, the Republic of Korea, Australia, and Saudi Arabia. Pot 2 gathers Iraq, the UAE, Oman, Uzbekistan, China, and Jordan./. VNA