Bahrain have risen two places on the latest FIFA World Ranking and, for the second straight edition, are in their highest position in 14 years.
The new classification of senior men’s national football teams was released yesterday by football’s international governing body.
The Bahrainis won their last two matches in the joint-qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup 2026 and AFC Asian Cup 2027, helping them climb to 80th globally with 1,307.53 total ranking points—an increase of 10.21 points.
In the previous ranking, Bahrain were 82nd, which at the time was their highest placing since being 60th in 2010.
They have now eclipsed that mark. During this period, the nationals were previously 83rd in their best ranking last year, and a worst of 121st in 2016.
The Bahrainis remained 12th amongst all sides in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), which is still topped by Japan who are ranked 18th in the world.
Amongst the six GCC teams, Bahrain are fifth-best.
AFC Asian Cup champions Qatar are the leaders at 34th overall in the world, followed by Saudi Arabia in 53rd, the UAE in 67th and Oman in 77th.
Kuwait are behind Bahrain in 139th. Bahrain’s best-ever FIFA World Ranking was 44th in 2004, and their lowest was 139th in 2000.
