Dubai: The UAE climbed 14 positions from 80th to 66th in the latest Fifa world rankings on Thursday after finishing third at last month’s Asian Cup in Australia.
The Whites are now one position above the Republic of Ireland and three below Asian Cup champions Australia, but they remain 24 places off their highest ever rank of 42nd set in November 1998.
Mahdi Ali’s side beat Iraq 3-2 to finish third in the Asian Cup after having qualified second in Group C with wins over Qatar 4-2 and Bahrain 2-1 before a 1-0 defeat to Iran.
They beat defending champions Japan 5-4 on penalties in the quarter-finals before losing 2-0 to hosts Australia in the semi-finals, but remain the fifth-highest ranked side in Asia.
World champions Germany remained on top as France dropped one spot to eighth without having played.
The top three remain unchanged, with Lionel Messi’s beaten World Cup finalists Argentina second and Colombia in third.
Belgium are fourth ahead of their northern neighbours the Netherlands, while humiliated World Cup hosts Brazil are sixth ahead of World Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal, who take seventh spot from Euro 2016 hosts France.
After years atop the heap, Spain drop from ninth to tenth at the expense of Luis Suarez’s Uruguay.
Ivory Coast, crowned Africa Cup of Nations champions this month, move up eight places to 20th as beaten finalists Ghana gained 12 places to sit 25th.
