The big news: Indian team jumps 11 places in rankings
The Indian men's football team jumped 11 places in the Fifa world rankings to move up to 137th spot, according to a release from the All India Football Federation on Thursday. “It’s been a total team effort," said coach Stephen Constantine. "Unless Mr Patel [AIFF President Praful Patel) and Mr Das [AIFF General Secretary Kushal Das] allowed me to do the things and the manner I wanted it to be done, this won’t have been possible ever.”
However, Constantine stressed that this was the beginning of a long-term plan and the team is capable of achieving much more. Recently in September, India defeated a much-higher ranked Puerto Rico 4-1 in a friendly in Mumbai. Their previous best ranking in the last six years was 138th in August 2010.
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