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What's the story?
The Indian women's national football team finished ranked 57th in the world in the official FIFA World Ranking, which was published on Friday.
This means that they have dropped down one place in the last three months, having been placed at 56 in September earlier this year.
In case you didn't know
The FIFA Women's Ranking is published every three months by the governing body of the sport, with the updates coming in the months of March, June, September and December.
The heart of the matter
The Indian team did not play a match in the last three months and have now dropped a solitary place to close the year out at 57.
Having ended 2016 in 54th place, the first quarter of the current year saw them drop down to 56 despite them recording three wins and one draw, which also saw them win the SAFF Championship.
By June, they fell four places further to 60th spot after the Women's Asian Cup qualifiers, which saw them suffer defeat in three games against North Korea (8-0), South Korea (10-0) and Uzbekistan (7-1), and record a win against Hong Kong (2-0).
By September, they made a massive four-point leap to 56, mostly in thanks to a 2-0 win over Malaysia in a friendly game but fell down one spot in the most recent ranking to end 2017 in 57th place.
In the Asian Football Confederation, the Indian side continues to remain in 13th place as Australia leads the pack with a world ranking of 4. Finishing the year as the world's best women's national team is the United States, followed by Germany and England.
What's next?
The next edition of the rankings will be out in March 2018 and it remains to be seen where the Indian team will be placed in three months' time.
Author's take
Despite a slight fall this time around, the team will certainly be hungry to move up the charts in the coming year. Here's hoping 2018 proves to be a successful year for our team!
