TEHRAN – Iran have moved up five places in the FIFA World Ranking released on Thursday.

Dragan Skocic’s team returned to the pitch in June after a lengthy intermission, with the remaining games in Round 2 of the Asian Qualifiers postponed due to COVID-19. 

Iran traveled to Bahrain to play the rest of the games in a hub, winning all four matches to make it a 100% record in the passage to Round 3. 

The four wins against Hong Kong, Cambodia, Bahrain and Iraq saw the ‘Persian Leopards’ climb to 26th place  in the ranking.

There has been a considerable amount of movement in the standings, although Belgium managed to retain their top spot despite being eliminated in the quarter-finals of the European Championship. Their last-eight opponents and eventual winners of the tournament, Italy, (5, +2), moved up into the top 5, just behind EURO runners-up England (4, no change). Just above that pair, Brazil (2, +1) and France (3, -1) swapped places.

The next FIFA Men’s World Ranking will be published on 16 September 2021.