Nepal jumped five positions in the latest rankings made public by the world football governing body FIFA.

Nepal now rank 161st following an improvement from the previous 166th position. India remain ahead among the South Asian nations despite the drop of a single position to 104. Maldives have lost a place as well and are now ranked 153rd. Another landlocked country of South Asia- Bhutan have bettered by one position to rise to 185th. Sri Lanka have dropped two positions to 202 while Pakistan have gained one and are now ranked 203rd.

Of the two recent matches at the second round of the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, Nepal had suffered a 7-0 drubbing against Kuwait while securing a 2-0 win against Chinese Taipei.

Meanwhile, Belgium remain at the top of the rankings while World Cup winners France who previously were third in the table have exchanged positions with Brazil who were only behind the Belgians. England stay firm in the fourth position, Portugal take the fifth while Uruguay drop to sixth. Former World champions Spain gain two positions at seventh while World Cup runners up Croatia drop to eighth. Columbia are a place down to ninth while South American giants Argentina remain unmoved at 10th.

Grenada are the highest gainers in terms of position as they jumped 13 places and now are just above Nepal at 160th position.