Brunei Darussalam climbed up five places to 192nd in the latest FIFA world rankings despite being the least ranked Asean Football Federation (AFF) member nation.

The Wasps were previously in 197th place but a positive result against Timor Leste in the AFF Suzuki Cup qualifiers briefly put them top of the four-team group in the race to advance to the main tournament next month at co-hosts Myanmar.

It was a significant rise for the AFF side after accumulating 57 points, a 24-point increase since the last time they were ranked, to leapfrog the likes of Pakistan, Macau and US Virgin Islands.

The Brunei national team also leapfrogged Sri Lanka, Macau and Pakistan in the AFC classification and now are fifth from bottom though they have some work to do to chase the likes of Timor Leste, Nepal and Bangladesh.

The Wasps were also ranked as the 33rd best mover, a place behind regional rivals Cambodia when taking into account the overall classification for all affiliated confederations and 11th in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) table.

Meanwhile, as expected, Australia remain the best ranked AFF nation in 40th place despite not partaking in the AFF Suzuki Cup who like Thailand are still involved in World Cup qualifying.

Philippines are the next best ranked in 124th place while Vietnam sit in 136th place after jumping five places from 141st.

Southeast Asia traditional powerhouses Thailand sensationally dropped 11 places down to 146th despite qualifying to the third round of the FIFA World Cup qualifying and earning an automatic spot in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup.

The defending AFF Suzuki Cup champions have endured a rough start in the third round of qualifying following a four-game winless run coming off from the back of a 4-0 defeat to Iraq.

Cambodia the best mover among the AFF member nations who climbed six places to 167th. Myanmar dropped three places down to 156th places in the rankings while Malaysia dropped six places down to 164th.

Singapore were ranked as the 9th worst mover when taking into account all confederations after dropping 16 places down to 171th while Laos (175), Indonesia (179) and Timor Leste (186) complete the AFF member nations.

Brunei's jump in the rankings represent solid progress after spiralling into a freefall having achieved a three-year high in 185th following a stunning 1-0 win over Chinese Taipei in 2015.

Source:
@BRUDIRECT.COM

by BruDirect.com

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