India have moved up one spot to be ranked 99 in the latest FIFA rankings update, which was published on Thursday by the world governing body. India leapfrogged Mauritania, who dropped from 99 to 101, behind Lebanon as well.

Igor Stimac’s side had a fruitful month, winning five and drawing four matches in the Intercontinental Cup and SAFF Championship. However, Lebanon closed down the gap between them and India from 3.16 ranking points to 2.92.

India had beaten Lebanon in the semifinal of the SAFF Championships last month, thanks to Gurpreet Singh Sandhu’s heroics in a penalty shootout, following which they had to rely on their goalkeeper’s shootout prowess again to win the final against Kuwait.

India hold on to 18th spot in Asia

Before the start of the Intercontinental Cup, India’s aim was to move up one spot among Asian Football Confederation nations during the July rankings update, and they have now achieved that.

The latest rankings update means that the pots for the draw, which will be held on July 27, are now finalised. The bottom 18 AFC nations in the world rankings will feature in Round 1, with the nine winners of the ties set to take their places in Pot 4 for the draw in Round 2.

Pots for World Cup Qualifiers Round 2 Draw (AFC)

Pot 1: Japan, Iran, Australia, Korea Republic, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iraq, United Arab Emirates, Oman

Pot 2: Uzbekistan, China, Jordan, Bahrain, Syria, Vietnam, Palestine, Kyrgyz Republic, India

Pot 3: Lebanon, Tajikistan, Thailand, Korea DPR, Philippines, Malaysia, Kuwait, Turkmenistan, Hong Kong

Pot 4: Nine winners of Round 1 ties

What does this mean for India?

Each group in Round 2 of the qualifiers will have one team from each pot. So, India will not face any teams from Pot 2, including Syria and Uzbekistan, who they will face in the AFC Asian Cup in January 2024, along with Australia.

Stimac’s side will next be in action in September at the King’s Cup in Thailand, which also involves will the hosts, Iraq and Lebanon, before the Merdeka tournament in October featuring Palestine, Malaysia and Lebanon.