Korean soccer’s FIFA ranking rose two places.
According to the October rankings announced by FIFA on the 26th, Korea ranked 24th with 1,540.35 points. The ranking went up two places from 26th last month. In the October A match, Korea won 4-0 over Tunisia and 6-0 over Vietnam. It was the first home win since Klinsmann was launched. Korea’s offensive power doubled as the synergy between ‘Captain’ Son Heung-min (Tottenham) and ‘Golden Boy’ Lee Kang-in (PSG) exploded, and with their outstanding performance, they won two consecutive games.
Korea has recently been on an upward trend in the FIFA rankings. Last month, it jumped from 28th to 26th. Korea traveled to Europe and faced Wales and Saudi Arabia in the September international match. They drew 0-0 with Wales and won 1-0 against Saudi Arabia. The match against Saudi Arabia was Jurgen Klinsmann’s first win since taking office. Korea succeeded in rising two places in the ranking for two consecutive months due to recent good performance.
Korea rose to 25th place after advancing to the round of 16 of the Qatar World Cup last year, but gradually went downhill after the launch of Klinsmann. It fell to 27th in April and 28th in June, but rebounded in September and rose to 24th. Korea ranked 3rd in Asia, following Japan (18th) and Iran (21st). Korea fell to fourth place in June after being pushed out by Australia, but maintained its third place from last month to this month. Australia ranked 27th.
Japan maintained its ranking in the top 10 for two consecutive months and maintained its No. 1 position in Asia. Japan has been showing surprising form recently. Japan, who defeated Germany and Turkiye in September, continued their upward trend in the October A match. They defeated Canada and Tunisia 4-1 and 2-0, respectively. Japan ranked 18th with a total score of 1612.99. It went up one place compared to 19th last month. Japan, which succeeded in entering the top 10 last month for the first time in 11 years, is further increasing its ranking and appears to be settling in the top 10.
Iran ranked 21st, the same as last month. It was the second highest ranking in Asia. Iran clashed with Jordan and Qatar in an international match in October and won 3-1 and 4-0, respectively. In the September international match, they defeated Bulgaria 1-0 and Angola 4-0. In Asia, Japan, Iran, Korea, and Australia maintain a clear top four position. Saudi Arabia (57th), Qatar (61st), and Iraq (68th) followed. The United Arab Emirates (UAE), where coach Paulo Bento was recently appointed, was ranked 69th. China ranked 79th and North Korea ranked 115th.굿모닝토토 도메인
Having concluded the evaluation series, the Klinsmann is now ready to enter actual combat. The 2026 North, Central and American World Cup Asian qualifiers begin in November. Korea, aiming to advance to its 11th consecutive World Cup finals, will play its first match against Singapore on November 16th and the second match against China on the 21st. Korea, which is in Group C along with Thailand, is expected to have an easy victory as it is facing teams that are one level below it. The second preliminary round will be held until June 11, 2024, and then the third preliminary round, which will be the final round, will be held from September.
After completing the World Cup qualifiers in November, the team will participate in the long-awaited Asian Cup in January next year. Korea is attempting to win its first championship in 64 years since 1960. Korea, with its golden generation including Son Heung-min, Lee Kang-in, Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich), and Hwang Hee-chan (Wolverhampton), sees this as the right time to challenge for the championship. The Asian Cup is also an intermediate evaluation point for Coach Klinsmann. Coach Klinsmann has always declared, “The goal is to win the Asian Cup” since his appointment. Korea was in Group E along with Malaysia, Jordan, and Bahrain.
Meanwhile, ‘defending champion’ Argentina ranked first in the FIFA rankings. This was followed by France, Brazil, England, and Belgium. These top 5 maintained the same ranking as last month. It is noteworthy that Portugal, which is on a winning streak in the Euro 2024 qualifiers, jumped from 8th to 6th, and Spain jumped from 10th to 8th. On the other hand, Croatia fell from 6th to 10th. By continent, Argentina ranked first in South America, France in Europe, the United States (11th) in North and Central America, and Morocco (13th) in Africa.