Fadhil Yunus
Brunei Darussalam’s national football team remain in the 191st place in the recently released FIFA world rankings amid no movement of national teams in the international stage due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The Wasps are placed 42nd out of 46 entries in the ranking table designated for Asian Football Confederation (AFC) countries, ahead of Timor Leste, Guam, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Brunei, who accumulated 904 points, last appeared in the first round of the FIFA World Cup qualification for AFC against Mongolia last June.
Japan, ranked 28th in the world, continue to lead the Asian continent as the best-ranked nation followed by Iran, who are 33rd in the world.
South Korea, Australia and 2022 FIFA World Cup hosts Qatar rounded off the top five in the continent.
Meanwhile, Vietnam are the best-ranked nation among the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) member associations having been ranked 94th in the world rankings and 14th among AFC countries.
The Golden Dragon has been rewarded after an impressive World Cup qualifying campaign so far that saw them at the top of Group ‘G’ with an unbeaten record.
Thailand are considered the second-best team in AFF having been ranked 113th in the world and 20th in the continent.
The Philippines, ranked 124th in the world are the third best in AFF followed by Myanmar (136th), Malaysia (154th), Singapore (157th), Indonesia and Cambodia (both 173rd), Laos (188th), Brunei (191st) and Timor Leste (196th).
Meanwhile, Belgium led the global ranking followed by reigning World Cup holders France and Brazil.
England are ranked fourth in the world while Uruguay completed the top five nations. The ranking table, which rank teams based on a point system, featured 210 teams from across six confederations.
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the immediate postponement of international matches including the World Cup qualifiers with the Euro 2020, originally scheduled this summer, being moved to next year.
Nevertheless, the AFC in consultation with FIFA recently announced the proposed match dates for the remaining fixtures of the second round of FIFA World Cup qualification for the AFC confederation and the Asian Cup 2023 qualifiers.