Malaysia in 161st spot, up two places from last month

Lack of international friendly matches did not hamper Malaysia's overall standing in latest FIFA ranking released Thursday.

Based on the latest FIFA ranking released, the national squad under coach Datuk K. Rajagobal moved up two spots to 161 from the 163rd spot it occupied last month.

Malaysia's current position was however, even lower than countries that lack basic infrastructure for football, namely Aruba (152), Bangladesh (154), Lesotho (155) and Nicaragua (157).

Among Asean countries, Rajagopal's men remained at 5th spot behind Vietnam (132), Thailand (142), the Philippines (144) and Myanmar (158).

In Asia, Malaysia dropped to 31st spot among 46 countries.

At the very top among 209 countries, reigning world and European champions Spain, Germany and Argentina held on to the first three spots with 1,538, 1,428 and 1,296 points respectively.