Baffled Thai FA boss asks Fifa to review world ranking calculation

The Thais sit in 158th spot in the world rankings, behind the Philippines, at 134th the best-ranked Southeast Asian side, then Vietnam, Myanmar, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Onetime regional powerhouses Thailand now find themselves rated a lowly seventh among the 10 Asean countries, their worst position since world rankings were introduced. Thailand’s success in clinching fourth place at last month’s Asian Games is an indication that the Thai side are on an upward trajectory. But their feat at the South Korea Asiad was not taken into account in calculating the world ranking as the Asian Games is not a Fifa-endorsed event. 

Thai FA boss Worawi, who also sits on Fifa’s powerful executive committee, acknowledged that he himself found it difficult to comprehend the calculations.

“I don’t quite understand the calculating method Fifa used for the world rankings. For example, an event like the AFC Challenge Cup has more [Fifa] points than the Suzuki Cup [Asean Championship] even though better teams compete in the latter tournament. 

“Or you could just consider which side would win a game between Thailand and the Philippines. For me, we would win, definitely, yet the Filipinos sit above us in the rankings. I asked Fifa to review the calculation method,” said the 62-year-old Worawi.