#2 Increase in India’s AFC MA Ranking
Okay, I will be honest with this one, there won’t be any expert in the world who’ll explain to you how and why exactly is the FIFA Rankings and UEFA Rankings calculated the way they are, but nonetheless they’re very important.
So back to the matter at hand, AFC MA Ranking (MA- Member Association) are how AFC decides if a club from a particular country goes into the AFC Champions League (Group stages or one of the preliminary stages) or the AFC Cup. The Rankings are calculated based on the performance of a country (the clubs) in AFC Competition in the last four years and the country’s FIFA Ranking (70-30 weightage).
Thanks to India’s climb in the FIFA Rankings, and Bengaluru FC’s performance in the AFC Cup last year, they haven’t had to play the third playoffs, and if the upward curve continues we’ll be seeing the day when Indian teams reach the AFC Champions League Group stages directly.
