Indonesia has the best FIFA ranking in 15 years, can it surpass the Vietnamese team?

Vietnam and Thailand teams must keep an eye on Indonesia's progress

The latest FIFA rankings announced on April 3rd, the Indonesian team has increased 4 places to 123rd in the world . This is a very significant increase, only behind the Vietnamese team (5 places) and the team with the most is Myanmar (7 places). The 123rd position in the world is also the best position of the team from the archipelago country in the past 15 years.

The Indonesian team (red shirt) increased its FIFA ranking significantly thanks to the victory over Bahrain, to narrow the gap with the Vietnamese and Thai teams.

Photo: Reuters

"We are extremely happy with the team's progress. The victory over Bahrain (1-0) in the third round of the 2026 World Cup Asian qualifiers has helped Indonesia rise four places in the FIFA rankings to 123rd place. This is Indonesia's best position in the FIFA rankings in the past 15 years," PSSI President Erick Thohir wrote a message on social network X.

He also expressed: "We will continue to work harder and strive to bring the Indonesian team into the world's top 100 soon."

The Indonesian team will have two very important matches in June, against China (June 5 at home) and Japan (June 10, away). These are the last two matches in the group stage of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in Asia.

Mr. Erick Thohir is harboring the ambition that the Indonesian team will at least maintain its current 4th position in Group C to enter the 4th qualifying round, continuing to nurture the hope of competing for a ticket to the 2026 World Cup. In addition, if the archipelago team defeats the Chinese team (ranked higher on the FIFA rankings, 94th), they will be awarded a significant number of points to gradually move closer to the goal of entering the world's top 100.

Vietnam team has made a leap in FIFA rankings, but behind is Indonesia getting very close

Photo: Ngoc Linh

In Southeast Asia, Indonesia is the team that has made the fastest progress to gradually approach the two strongest teams in the region, Vietnam and Thailand. The Thai team is still leading the region (99th place), but the possibility of falling out of the top 100 is increasing. Meanwhile, the Vietnamese team has stopped the decline since winning the AFF Cup 2024, to now rise to 109th place in the world.

The gap between Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia is gradually narrowing. Specifically, Thailand is only 10 places above Vietnam, and 24 places above Indonesia. Vietnam used to be far ahead of its opponents, but now it is only 14 places above Indonesia.

These will be the 3 teams in the Southeast Asian region that will have a very interesting competition for the FIFA rankings in the near future, CNN Indonesia reported. Meanwhile, the remaining teams in the region ranked closest such as Malaysia (ranked 131) and the Philippines (146) are still quite far away.

The Indonesian team is currently in a strong position in the third qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup in Asia. If they win, similar to the case of the victory over Bahrain, they will earn a significant number of points and continue to hope to compete for a ticket to the final round.

Meanwhile, the Vietnamese and Thai teams competing in the third qualifying round of the 2027 Asian Cup are also required to win to maintain their positions and find a place in the final round of the biggest team tournament in Asia. Thereby, it also creates a foundation to return to the third qualifying round of the next World Cup in 2030.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/indonesia-thang-hang-fifa-tot-nhat-trong-15-nam-co-vuot-duoc-doi-tuyen-viet-nam-185250404083808207.htm