Jordan Ends Year At FIFA 64Th

(MENAFN- Jordan Times) AMMAN - Jordan climbed two spots to 64th in the 2025 end-of-year FIFA rankings after ending participation in the FIFA Arab Cup in Qatar, finishing runner-up to eventual champions Morocco with an impressive performance throughout the tournament.

The Kingdom is now the 9th ranked Asian team and 8th among Arab sides, with the world's top 10 led by Spain, Argentina, France, England, Brazil, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Croatia.

Top 10 Asian teams are: Japan 18, Iran 20, South Korea 22, Australia 26, Uzbekistan 50, Qatar 54, Iraq 58, Saudi Arabia 60, Jordan 64, UAE 68. Top Arab teams are: Morocco 11,Algeria 34, Egypt 35, Tunisia 41, Qatar 54, Iraq 58, Saudi Arabia 60, Jordan 64, UAE 68, Oman 79.

Although Jordan's lineup missed many players on duty in its league clubs abroad, fans and officials alike applauded the concerted efforted of head coach Jamal Sellami for his strategic insight and preparing a new base of players to serve the game in the future.

Jordan,runner-up at the 2023 Asian Cup, followed by a historic first-time qualification to the World Cup, has raised the bar of participation on a competitive level despite the fact that they were drawn in a tough Group J for the World Cup alongside soccer greats Argentina, Algeria and Austria. Now, finishingsecond at the Arab Cup with their second tier team has given much impetus to their preparations and upcoming agenda.

Missing the Arab Cup were striker Mousa Ta'mari (Stade Rennais FC- France), Yazan Al Arab (FC Seoul), Mohammad Abu Al-Nadi and Noor Rawabdeh (Selangor FC - Malaysia), Tamer Bani Odeh (West Bromwich Albion FC- England) and Ibrahim Sabra (Goztepe -Turkey). The squad lost the efforts of Yazan Nue'imat and Adham Qurashi who both sustained serious injuries and underwent surgery for torn ACL.

Jordan beat the UAE 2-1, Kuwait 3-1, and Egypt 3-0 to advance to the quarters where they overcame Iraq 1-0 then beat Saudi 1-0 in the semifinals before losing the final 3-2 to Morocco after a 2-1 lead until the final minutes of the match.

Jordan had hosted the Arab Cup in 1988, finishing fourth and have mostly exited in the first round apart from 2002, when they exited the semifinals and there was no 3rd place deciding match. In the 2021 edition, they reached the quarterfinals before losing 3-1 to Egypt in overtime. Iraq are 4 times champs (1964, 1966, 1985, 1988), Morocco twice (2012, 2025), Saudi Arabic twice (1998, 2002), Algeria (2021), Tunisia (1963) and Egypt (1992).

In the past few months, Jordan's World Cup preparations agenda included friendlies in which it held Russia 0-0, beat the Dominican Republic 3-0, lost 1-0 to Bolivia and 4-2 to Albania, heldMali 0-0, lost to 7-time World Cup qualifiers Tunisia 3-2.

With an additional 16 nations participating in the 2026 edition of the World Cup, Jordan qualifiedfor the first time in their 7th time in the qualifiers since 1986. They will be joined by2022 semifinalists Morocco, Egypt, the first Arab nation ever to qualify to a World Cup in 1934. Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Qatar have also advanced and could also have Iraq joining after their qualification play-offs.

By advancing for the second time to Round 3 in the qualifiers they also booked their spot in the next edition of the 2027 Asian Cup year, Jordan was nearlycrowned the2023 Asian Cup for the first time in history, but settled for runner-up in their fifth time at the continent's leading event. Their best ever FIFA ranking was37thin 2004after advancing to the Asian Cup quarterfinals and losing to eventual champs Japan. The Kingdom also reached the quarterfinals in 2011, exited the group stages in 2015 and in 2019 made it to the Round of 16.

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