The Indian women’s football team climbed seven spots to 63 in the latest FIFA rankings, after it beat Thailand to qualify for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup.
It is the highest rank for the Blue Tigresses in nearly two years, when it was ranked 61st on August 21, 2023.
India beat higher-ranked Thailand 2-1 in the Asian Cup qualifiers, securing qualification in the tournament for the first time on merit.
The side, which was forced to withdraw from the last edition of the tournament, on home soil, started the qualification campaign with a 13-0 victory over Mongolia and then got the better of Timor Leste and Iraq with margins of 4-0 and 5-0, respectively.
It all came down to the final match against the Thais, who had an identical points tally. It was Sangita Basfore who stepped up in that game to net a brace and power India to the finals of the Asian Cup.
