Jordan stays 97th in FIFA Rankings

By Aline Bannayan - Apr 06,2019 - Last updated at Apr 06,2019

AMMAN — Jordan is still 97th in the latest FIFA world rankings issued on the weekend which came after Jordan played a friendly tournament last month.

The national team lost to Syria and Iraq in a friendly tourney — the first matches after they were eliminated in the Round of 16 in the Asian Cup 2019 where Qatar won the title for the first time.

Since first taking part in Asian Cup qualifiers in 1972, Jordan reached the Asian Championship four times. The peak was at the 13th Asian Cup, when they lost to Japan in the quarter-finals and jumped to the best ever FIFA Ranking of 37th in August 2004. They also reached the Asian Cup in 2011, 2015 and 2019.

The team had ended 2018 in 109th spot — its best ranking of the year as the Kingdom’s competitive edge lacked consistency. However, Asian Cup matches improved their form in early 2019 and with it the team’s ranking.

Once among the Asia top 10, Jordan has now improved four spots to 15th in the continent but still lags behind relatively uncompetitive Asian teams compared to its best FIFA Ranking of 37th in 2004. Jordan trails Iran (21), Japan (26), South Korea (37), Australia (41), Qatar (55), the UAE (67), Saudi Arabia (72), China (74), Iraq (76), Syria (83), Uzbekistan (85), Oman (86), Lebanon (86) and Kyrgyzstan (95).

Belgium is in top spot with World Cup champs France in second, followed by Brazil, England, Croatia, Uruguay, Portugal, Switzerland, Spain and Denmark.

Tunisia is the top-ranked Arab team at 28th, followed by Morocco 45th, Qatar 55th and Egypt 57th.

After elimination from the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, playing in the Asian finals became Jordan’s focus but that ambition ended in the Round of 16. The team has had inconsistent results compared to 2013 when the team was on the verge of qualifying to the 2014 World Cup for the first time and advanced to play then World’s 6th ranked Uruguay in an intercontinental qualifying tie. Jordan had never reached that far in World Cup qualifying since taking part in qualifiers. Round 3 had been the furthest Jordan reached in the past seven times in the qualifiers since 1986.