FIFA rankings in November fluctuated slightly, why did the Vietnamese team only increase one rank?

On the evening of November 19, the latest FIFA rankings for November were announced. This is the ranking used to determine the four seed groups before the 2026 World Cup draw. Meanwhile, the match in which Vietnam won Laos 2-0 has not been counted.

The Vietnam team should have moved up two places or more.

The Vietnamese national team's FIFA ranking rise continues, after rising three places in the October rankings, and could have risen at least two more places to 109th in the world after beating Laos 2-0 in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers on the evening of November 19. However, this match (which was worth 5.89 points to get 1,189.51 points) has not been counted.

Nguyen Xuan Son returned after nearly a year of injury, scoring the opening goal for the Vietnamese team from the 11m mark in a 2-0 win over Laos on the evening of November 19.

Photo: Thuy An

The reason is that the match between Vietnam and Laos in Vientiane on the evening of November 19 was originally scheduled to be played on November 18, but the Lao Football Federation requested to change it to November 19. Therefore, it was not counted in the FIFA rankings for November, which were scheduled to be announced on November 19.

Although the Vietnam team did not receive points from the victory over Laos, and the Vietnamese team still maintained the same score of 1,183.62 points as in October, they still moved up one place to 110th in the world. They continued to rank 2nd in Southeast Asia after Thailand (also moved up one place) to 95th in the world. The Malaysian team beat Nepal 1-0, moving up two places to 116th in the world and 3rd in the region.

Indonesia, which did not compete, is still ranked 122nd in the world, the Philippines rose five places to 136th in the world, and Singapore, which qualified for the 2027 Asian Cup finals, also rose four places to 151st in the world. These teams are ranked next in Southeast Asia after Thailand, Vietnam, and Malaysia.

In Asia, the Thai team is ranked 15th, while the Vietnamese team is currently ranked 20th. The Japanese team is still ranked number 1 on the continent.

In December, the final FIFA rankings for 2025 will be announced on December 23, promising that the Vietnamese team will then receive points from the victory over Laos to continue to increase their ranks and get closer to the world's top 100.

In addition, the current FIFA rankings scores related to the Vietnamese and Malaysian teams can also change at any time, as FIFA's penalty against Malaysian football for the case of "illegally" naturalized players is about to take effect and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) will soon issue a disciplinary decision.

This includes losing matches in which the Malaysian team used ineligible players in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers (2 matches, including the 2-0 win over Nepal on March 25 and the 4-0 win over Vietnam on June 10), and at least three more international friendly matches.

If this disciplinary decision is announced in December, the FIFA rankings at the end of 2025 will certainly have huge fluctuations, at which time the Vietnamese team will have a chance to return to the 100th position in the world and go deep into the top 20 in Asia.

42/48 teams have qualified for the 2026 World Cup, leaving only 6 play-off spots with 4 European spots and 2 intercontinental spots (determined in March 2026)

Photo: Football Rankings/X

Meanwhile, in the world region, the Spanish team is still ranked No. 1, followed by the Argentine team ranked No. 2. These teams, along with the three co-host teams of the US, Mexico and Canada, and the remaining high-ranked teams such as France, England, Brazil, Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium and the German team, have officially become the 12 teams in the No. 1 seed group, before the draw ceremony for the 2026 World Cup finals at 11 p.m. (Vietnam time) on December 5 at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC (USA).

Pot 2 seeds are Croatia, Morocco, Colombia, Uruguay, Switzerland, Japan, Senegal, Iran, South Korea, Ecuador, Austria and Australia.

Pot 3 is Norway, Panama, Egypt, Algeria, Scotland, Paraguay, Tunisia, Ivory Coast, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa.

Pot 4 is Jordan, Cape Verde, Ghana, Curacao, Haiti, New Zealand, European play-off group A, European play-off group B, European play-off group C, European play-off group D, Intercontinental play-off group 1 and Intercontinental play-off group 2.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/bang-xep-hang-fifa-thang-11-vi-sao-doi-tuyen-viet-nam-chi-tang-mot-bac-185251120090215819.htm