Observed on June 23, a newsflash from the Eastern soccer circle quietly surfaced. Today, FIFA released the latest edition of the global soccer power rankings, and our men's soccer team suffered a small fluctuation in its international status, slipping from 77th to 78th in the previous round, and being overtaken by Uzbekistan in Asia, slipping to 11th place.
Analyzing the reasons, our men's football team failed to organize a warm-up match on the international match day in June, and this absence became the trigger that affected the ranking. The 78th place in the ranking not only set the lowest record in the past four years, but also marked the basic stagnation of our men's soccer team in this period of time, the highest had climbed to 65th place, while the lowest bottomed out at 78th place.
It is worth mentioning that the 2023 Asian Cup will be held in a country other than China, and China's men's football team, which originally enjoyed the home field advantage, has lost this favorable condition this time. It is inferred that if the ranking continues to decline, it will undoubtedly have a negative impact on the grouping and classification of our men's football team in the Asian Cup.
In Asian football, Iran remains firmly at the top of the list, followed by Japan, South Korea, Australia, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, occupying positions 2 through 6 in that order.
