South Korea have re-entered the top 60 in FIFA rankings following their solid performance in recent friendly matches. (Image: Yonhap)
SEOUL, Nov. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea have re-entered the top 60 in FIFA rankings following their solid performance in recent friendly matches.
According to the November rankings unveiled by FIFA on Thursday, South Korea jumped three spots to No. 59 with 563 points. The men’s national team, which qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, started 2017 as the world’s 37th-ranked team.
South Korea, led by head coach Shin Tae-yong, collected impressive results in friendly football matches earlier this month. Shin’s side beat Colombia 2-1 on Nov. 10 and played to a 1-1 draw with Serbia four days later. Both Colombia and Serbia had higher rankings than South Korea.
The Taeguk Warriors now trail three other Asian Football Confederation (AFC) members: Iran (32nd), Australia (39th) and Japan (55th).
There were no changes to the top five as Germany, Brazil, Portugal, Argentina and Belgium retained their positions. Spain moved up two spots to No. 6, followed by Poland, Switzerland, France and Chile.
FIFA previously announced that October FIFA rankings would be used to allocate World Cup qualified teams to the four pots according to their ranking in descending order. South Korea were No. 62 in October rankings and they are confirmed as one of the lowest seeded teams in pot 4 when the 2018 World Cup group draw takes place at the State Kremlin Palace in Moscow on Dec. 1.
(Yonhap)
*Editor’s Note: This article previously stated incorrectly that South Korea’s FIFA Ranking had moved up 2 spots.
