FIFA Rankings January 2018: Vietnam continues to be the “king” of Southeast Asia
In the latest FIFA rankings update a few minutes ago, Vietnam National Team was ranked higher in Asia.
As known in the FIFA rankings in December 2017, the Vietnam national team increased sharply in the FIFA rankings, from 263 points to 298 points, climbing 13 ranks from 125 to 112 in the world. Thanks to that, the Vietnam national team rose to number 1 in Southeast Asia, surpassing the Philippines and still standing above Thailand. The Philippines dropped 17 points to 263 points, falling 6 ranks from 118 to 124 in the world. Thailand ranked 130 in the world.
As of today, the FIFA rankings for January 2018 show that the Vietnam national team maintains its score and position, still ranked 112th in the world with 298 points and leading the Southeast Asian region. The Philippines and Thailand teams maintain their score but both have increased by 1 place, ranking 123rd and 129th in the world respectively.
The strong increase in Vietnam's score in November and December 2017 mainly comes from the fact that the results of November and December 2016 (ie the matches of AFF Cup 2016) were no longer calculated according to the coefficient of 100% but down to 25%. Therefore, Vietnam's average score increased sharply because AFF Cup was only calculated as a friendly match (coefficient x1).
In Asia, Vietnam moved up one place, entering the top 16 while Jordan dropped six places to 113th in the world and ranked right behind Vietnam. Meanwhile, the world's top 10 had no changes as Germany, Brazil and Portugal continued to hold the top 3 positions.
