Iran 4th in maiden FIFA Futsal Men’s World Ranking

FIFA – ZURICH, Brazil sit at the summit of the first FIFA Futsal Men’s World Ranking. Portugal pipped Spain to second spot, while IR Iran and Argentina complete the top five.

It means those five nations, along with hosts Uzbekistan, will be the Pot 1 seeds in the upcoming draw for this year’s FIFA Futsal World Cup™. Pot 2 will comprise Morocco,
Kazakhstan, Thailand, France, Ukraine and Paraguay.

New Zealand (19th) and Costa Rica (31st) are the highest-positioned nations from the OFC and Concacaf regions respectively.

Brazil have been on fire since bagging bronze at the last global finals in 2021. They registered back-to-back victories away to Spain last year, and recaptured the Futsal Copa America crown from Argentina in February. Pito is widely regarded as the best player in the world, while Ferrao – the sport’s three-time Best Player – has just returned from ACL surgery.

Portugal won Lithuania 2021, the last two UEFA Futsal EUROs and the first Futsal Finalissima. Jorge Braz’s squad boasts the likes of Andre Coelho, Tomas Paco, Erick Mendonca, Pany Varela and the outrageously gifted Zicky Te.

Spain, the two-time global kings, lost close games to Portugal at the last world and European finals, but have registered positive friendly results in recent years, including a 6-0 win over their Iberian rivals. Coach Fede Vidal calls on the considerable talent of Chino, Adolfo Fernandez and Miguel Mellado.

Iran finished third at Colombia 2016, famously eliminating Brazil en route, and are fresh from an AFC Futsal Asian Cup triumph. In Asghar Hassanzadeh, Moslem Oladghobad and Hossein Tayyebi, Vahid Shamsaei has three of best players in the world in their respective positions.

Argentina, who finished first and second respectively at the last two Futsal World Cups, complete the top five. Nico Sarmiento, Lucas Tripodi, Kiki Vaporaki are elite performers, while Angel Claudino has blossomed into one of the sport’s foremost creators.

Morocco’s ascent has been nothing short of meteoric. They destroyed Kuwait 7-1 in the Arab Futsal Cup final, handed Argentina a 7-0 beatdown in a friendly, escaped the entire 2023 unbeaten, and conquered the Futsal AFCON 2024 in scintillating style. Bilal Bakkali, Soufian Charraoui, Soufiane El-Mesrar and Co are now threatening to make Morocco the first nation outside Europe or South America to lift the sport’s most prestigious trophy.

France have also come on leaps and bounds in recent years. The brilliance of Abdessamad Mohammed and Souheil Mouhoudine got them to the global finals for the first time, while they upset Brazil in a friendly last month.

The next FIFA Futsal Men’s World Ranking will be published in October 2024.