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The latest FIFA World Rankings were released today and the Indian national men's team sits at 97, up two spots from where they were in March. It continues the steady rise that the team has enjoyed over the last two seasons.
Glancing across the rankings, we actually had a look at some of the countries that India are ahead of in the list, some of which genuinely piqued our interest.
#5 Armenia (Current ranking: 98, Avg. ranking: 95)
So, India are now officially a spot better than the team Henrikh Mkhitaryan plays for?
Mkhitaryan has played at the highest levels from Shakhtar Donetsk to Borussia Dortmund to Manchester United and now Arsenal and he is the best player in his national side and its captain.
The mainstay of Armenia's squad is composed of players plying their trade in the country and in neighbouring ones, but they do have a handful of players outside of Mkhitaryan playing across major European leagues, such as France and Portugal.
And considering that India, with all due respect to the current team, has no player in Mkhitaryan's class is actually better off in the rankings than Armenia is very much a sign of the improvement the team has made.
#4 Israel (Current ranking: 98, Avg. ranking: 47)
This was a real surprise because the Israeli side hasn't been this low in a long while.
As you can see from their average ranking position, they are usually in the 45-60 range or have been for much of the time. But since 2016 they have gone backwards and now India are better than them.
In qualification for the 2018 World Cup, Israel were in the same group as Spain and Italy, and finished fourth behind those two and Albania. Former Chelsea defender Tal Ben Haim, at the age of 36 is still part of the squad. Midfielder Beram Kayal plays for Brighton & Hove Albion in the Premier League.
Most of their players ply their trade in the Israeli league, but they do have some notable names playing outside of their country.
#3 Qatar (Current ranking: 101, Avg. ranking: 82)
The hosts of the 2022 World Cup are now a few places behind India.
Qatar are a strong team at the continental level and have made the last eight at Asian Cups.
They are also known to field a lot of foreign-born players. Very regularly, you find players originally of other nationalities, turning out in Qatari colours having become naturalized citizens of the Gulf state.
Case in point, Sebastian Soria. Soria is their all-time leading goalscorer and most capped player. He was born in Uruguay, but then moved to Qatar to further his football career. Not casting aspersions on their selections, but they have known to be welcoming to players from other parts of the world. They provide them with the best facilities and in return, they turn out for them.
Qatar will play their first ever World Cup match four years from now on home soil. It will be interesting to contrast the fortunes of India and Qatar in four years' time.
#2 Korea DPR (Current ranking: 112, Avg. ranking: 119)
This is North Korea by the way.
Now, it's not like North Korea have been above India in the rankings, in fact, they are currently better than what their average position has been.
But this was intriguing because North Korea featured in the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Unfortunately for them, they were in a group that had Brazil, Portugal and Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) which left them with no chance of making it through to the knockout stages.
In the decade post that World Cup appearance though, the team has failed to kick on and India can now say that they have a better team.
#1 New Zealand (Current ranking: 133, Avg. ranking: 100)
The Kiwis have slipped massively in the rankings in recent years.
They were as high as 63rd in 2010 and even about five years ago, they were in the nineties. They almost always reach the World Cup inter-continental playoffs every four years, only to be beaten by a South American side.
This time it was Peru. However, they did reach the World Cup finals in 2010 in South Africa. They actually finished the group stage unbeaten, with three draws, but still exited the tournament.
New Zealand does have some of their key players out in Europe's top leagues too, always have. Prime examples would be Burnley's Chris Wood and West Ham United captain Winston Reid.
Reid has been at West Ham since 2010 and has made over 194 appearances for the Premier League side as a central figure of the team.
Wood meanwhile has emerged as a powerful, bruising striker who now plays for Burnley after successful spells at Leicester City and Leeds United where he scored plenty of goals. He is, in fact, four short of becoming his country's all-time record goalscorer. He is Burnley's top-scorer with 9 goals this season.
