KUALA LUMPUR: Harimau Malaya have fallen six spots to world No. 138 on the Fifa rankings.
The Malaysian team, thus, found themselves back to the same spot they were in on April 2023.
The national team suffered their third consecutive drop in four months, and casting a shadow over coach KIm Pan Gon's future with Malaysia.
Malaysia's decline began after the losses to Jordan (4-0) and Bahrain (1-0) in the Asian Cup in Doha in January. Though Malaysia drew 3-3 with world No. 28 South Korea in their final group match, it was not enough to arrest the team's decline.
Late last year, Malaysia started off well with victories over Kyrgyzstan (4-3) and Taiwan (1-0) in the World Cup qualifiers, but suffered back-to-back defeats with identical 2-0 losses to Oman last month. This contributed to Malaysia's decline from World No 132 to 138.
The latest Fifa rankings of the other Southeast Asian countries are Indonesia (No. 134), Vietnam (No. 115), Thailand (No. 101), Philippines (No. 141), Singapore (No.155), Myanmar (No. 163) and Cambodia (No. 179).
