Southeast Asian newspaper comments on Vietnam national football team's FIFA ranking drop

After FIFA announced the July rankings yesterday afternoon (July 10), Malaysia's New Straits Times wrote: "The Malaysian team achieved its highest ranking on the FIFA rankings after nearly two decades. Harimau Malaya rose 6 places to 125th in the world ."

“This is the best result that the Malaysian team has had since February 2016. Malaysia achieved this ranking after they had a breakthrough through a 4-0 victory over the Vietnamese team in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers on June 10. Before that, Malaysia had a 1-1 draw with the Cape Verde team,” the New Straits Times added.

Southeast Asian newspaper comments on Vietnam team's FIFA ranking drop - 1

The Malaysian team (yellow shirt) rose 5 places on the FIFA rankings, while the Vietnamese team dropped 4 places (Photo: VFF).

With a rise of 6 places, from 131st to 125th, the Malaysian team is the team with the best growth momentum in Asia in July, equal to the Hong Kong team (China, from 153rd to 147th).

New Straits Times commented: “In Southeast Asia, the Malaysian team is currently ranked 4th after Thailand (FIFA rank 102), Vietnam (113) and Indonesia (118)”.

“In Asia, Malaysia ranked 23rd. Japan leads Asia thanks to its FIFA ranking of 17th, followed by Iran (20th), South Korea (23rd) and Australia (24th),” the article continues to be written in Malaysia’s leading English-language daily.

Meanwhile, CNN Indonesia commented: “The Indonesian team achieved its best result on the FIFA rankings in the past 19 years. The team from the archipelago country is currently ranked 118th, up 5 places compared to the most recent ranking.”

“If we count the Indonesian team’s rankings over the past 19 years, this is the first time the Garuda Warriors have been ranked so high. The highest ranking the Indonesian team has achieved in the past 19 years was FIFA 110, announced on April 19, 2006,” CNN Indonesia added.

Southeast Asian newspaper comments on Vietnam team's FIFA ranking drop - 2

The rankings of Southeast Asian teams were announced by FIFA on the afternoon of July 10 (Photo: ASEAN Football).

The Indonesian newspaper also talked about the difficult times for Indonesian football many years ago. CNN Indonesia commented that its national team has gradually overcome those years.

The newspaper shared the information: “In August 2016, the Indonesian team fell to a shockingly low position: 191 FIFA. This is the result of the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) being banned by FIFA in 2015.”

“Before that, in 2010, Indonesian football had two national federations that existed in parallel, including PSSI and KPSI. This led to the formation of two different teams, one managed by PSSI called ISL and one managed by KPSI called IPL,” CNN revealed the surprise.

On the ASEAN Football website, which specializes in Southeast Asian football, this site analyzed: “The FIFA rankings reflect how football teams in the region have been competing recently. Thailand has fallen out of the top 110, while the Vietnamese team has dropped four places.”

“Meanwhile, Indonesia and Malaysia continued their impressive climb up the rankings, reflecting their strong recent performances on the international stage,” ASEAN Football stressed.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/bao-dong-nam-a-binh-luan-viec-doi-tuyen-viet-nam-tut-hang-fifa-20250710225454784.htm