Vietnam soar 38 spots: FIFA World Ranking

AFC Asian Cup 2007 co-hosts Vietnam, who have reached the semifinals of the ongoing ASEAN Football Championship, have received a big boost from the latest FIFA World Ranking released on Wednesday after finding themselves catapulted 38 spots into 134th position.

This is the biggest gain by an Asian team in the month of January which saw Iran (one up; 37th) retaining the top position in the continental ladder, followed by Australia (no change; 39th), Uzbekistan (no change; 45th) and Japan (one up; 46th).

Korea Republic (51st) stay outside the top-50, Qatar are 59th while Saudi Arabia are 64th.

DPR Korea (down 20; 133rd) and Singapore (down 15; 126th) are the two biggest losers. However, after their fine showing in the ASEAN Football Championship which has seen them reach the last four, Singapore can expect to reverse the slide in future rankings.