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What's the story?
The Indian men's national football team are set to stay put at number 105 in the December edition of the FIFA World Ranking, which will be officially published on December 21.
With the national team not having played any match in the last month, they will move neither up nor down and keep their 105th position, according to Romanian expert Eduard Ranghuic.
In case you didn't know
The Indian team are currently on a 13-match unbeaten streak and have not lost a game since March 2016, which was a 2-1 loss at home to Turkmenistan in the World Cup qualifiers. Their last match was on November 14 against Myanmar, which ended in a 2-2 draw.
The heart of the matter
Stephen Constantine's men have had a memorable 2017, which has seen them remain unbeaten and also saw them break into the Top 100 of the world rankings.
Starting the year in 135th place, the team made a mammoth 31-point leap in April to the 101st spot after two wins against Cambodia and Myanmar in March.
A major landmark was achieved in the next month's rankings as well, which saw the Indian team break into the Top 100 for the first time in 21 years. By July, the side was placed as high as 96, before exiting the Top 100 in September, dropping numerous places to be ranked 107th.
Also, Germany are set to end the year at the top of the FIFA rankings ahead of Brazil and will receive the Team of the Year award.
What's next?
The FIFA rankings for December 2017 will be released on December 21. As far as the Indian team is concerned, their next match is in March 2018 as they travel to Bishkek to take on the Kyrgyz Republic in their AFC Asian Cup qualifier.
Author's take
India will end, what has been a brilliant year, in 105th place - 30 places better than 12 months ago. Here's hoping they continue their unbeaten streak and enter the Top 100 once again!
