On December 23rd, Beijing time, the official website of FIFA officially released the latest ranking of men's national soccer teams in December 2021 and the final ranking of the year. It is worth noting that China's men's soccer team did not change in the overall ranking, AFC ranking and points, and ranked 74th with a total of 1,337.33 points, which is a new high in the year-end ranking in the past four years. Meanwhile, the national soccer team remained in eighth place in the AFC rankings; Iran topped Asia, while Belgium continued to occupy the leading position in the overall rankings following four consecutive years of first place in the year-end rankings.
In this scoring cycle, the Chinese men's national soccer team did not have any tournaments scheduled, so the points remained unchanged, still at 1,337.33, and the overall ranking remained locked at 74th, consistent with the last published data. This also marks a year-on-year improvement in the national soccer team's year-end ranking since 2018: from 76th to 76th to 75th to 74th this year.
Since the implementation of the FIFA Men's National Team Ranking System at the end of December 1992, our men's soccer team had a high ranking of 37th in December 1998 and a low of 109th in March 2013, with an average ranking of 73rd.
The national soccer team remains in eighth place in the AFC rankings. The Asian teams that have overtaken the Chinese men's soccer team are Iran, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, in that order; Iraq and Oman have also managed to make it into the top ten.
In the latest list, the national soccer team has a 13.06-point gap with the UAE, which is in front of it, and is 4.30 points ahead of Iraq, which is ninth in Asia. It is worth mentioning that Japan had won the top spot in the AFC year-end rankings for two consecutive years in 2019 and 2020, but was overtaken by Iran this year and is provisionally ranked second.China will face Japan away in the seventh round of the 12-team World Qualifying Tournament on January 27, 2022, while its opponent in the eighth round on February 1 is Vietnam, which is currently ranked 98th with 1,212.54 points, and is ranked in the AFC standings The team is ranked 17th in the AFC rankings.
In the overall standings, Belgium has been ranked No. 1 at the end of the year for the fourth consecutive year, and has held on to the top spot since September 2018 when it topped the list. Closely followed by Brazil and France, the top 10 of the list remains unchanged from the data released last month. (Written by Aoyo Cheuk)
