Iran football team maintained its position as Asia’s best ranked team following the release of the latest FIFA World Ranking on Thursday.

Iran and Korea Republic’s rankings remained unchanged at 29th and 37th respectively, while Australia (44th) overtook Japan (46th) as the third best ranked side in Asia, while Saudi Arabia moved up six ranks to 48th.

All of Asia’s top 10 teams are currently contesting in the third round of qualifying for the FIFA World Cup Russia 2018, with unbeaten Iran leading Group A and Saudi Arabia edging out Japan to sit atop Group B.

The Maldives are the best Asian movers in the latest rankings, climbing up nine spots to 145th globally, while India and Nepal moved up six spots to 129th and 175th respectively.

Asia’s Top 10 (global rankings in brackets)

Iran (29th)

Korea Republic (37th)

Australia (44th)

Japan (46th)

Saudi Arabia (48th)

Uzbekistan (61st)

United Arab Emirates (64th)

China PR (81st)

Qatar (85th)

Syria (96th)

The next FIFA World Ranking will be released on February 9.

(Source: the-afc)