Kalyan Chaubey claims FIFA's complex, fluctuating system the reason behind India's poor ranking

Overview

• Kalyan Chaubey pointed at the flaws in the FIFA's ranking system and regarded them complex, fluctuating
• The AIFF Chief claimed the past record of teams often lead to their bad situation in the world rankings
• Chaubey felt India has progressed as a Football nation in the last few years, which hasn't necessarily reflected in the FIFA rankings

Kalyan Chaubey pointed at the flaws in the FIFA's ranking system and regarded them complex, fluctuating. The AIFF Chief claimed the past record of teams often lead to their bad situation in the world rankings. Chaubey felt India has progressed as a Football nation in the last few years, which hasn't necessarily reflected in the FIFA rankings.

The AIFF Chief explained how the past performances of the team gets counted in the FIFA rankings and don't reflect a team's improvement, noting India's constant change in the world rankings from decades.

"FIFA ranking is based on the historical performance of a national team in the international matches played in the preceding years. This method adds or subtracts points for matches to or from a team's existing total points. It depends on the number of matches the team plays and the ranking of the opponent. In 2023, we moved to 99 from 106 when I took charge, and now in 2025, from 99, we have gone down to 133," said Chaubey.

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He added that India was ranked better in the mid 1990s much before the formation of NFL. He claimed that the Indian Football has progressed well, ISL has achieved good viewership, but the performances have not necessarily reflected in the national team.

"Over the last decade, Indian football has seen remarkable progress," - AIFF Chief

"FIFA first published its ranking in December 1992, and India was ranked 143rd out of 211 member countries. We went down to 173 in 2015, then rose to 97 in 2018. Our best was 94 in February 1996, much before the NFL kicked off," Chaubey added.

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"Over the last decade, Indian football has seen remarkable progress — better stadiums, improved club professionalism, enhanced player pay, and world-class broadcasting. ISL is now one of the most viewed leagues in Asia. However, that success did not reflect in the national team's performance," Chaubey claimed.