KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 26 — After steadily climbing up the ladder since August last year, Harimau Malaya finally fell three rungs in the latest Fifa world ranking.

Coach Kim Pan Gon’s men, who were ranked 134th last month, dropped to number 137 when they amassed 1,096.72 points after collecting just 1.82 points during the October 9-17 Fifa window for international friendlies.

During that period, Malaysia defeated India 4-2 in the 2023 Merdeka Tournament here before losing 2-0 to Tajikistan in the final, which was also the Harimau Malaya’s first loss in seven matches.

Malaysia, however, remained in 24th spot among Asian teams and emerged as the third-best South-east Asian team behind Vietnam (world number 94) and Thailand (world number 112).

The Philippines fell to number 138 while neighbours Indonesia and Singapore each climbed up two spots to number 145 and number 155.

Argentina, the 2022 World champions, continue to lead the way in the world ranking, followed by France, Brazil, England and Belgium.

For the Asia zone, the top five teams are Japan, who are ranked 18th in the world, Iran (21st), South Korea (24th), Australia (27th) and Saudi Arabia (57th).

The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) are on a mission to ensure that Harimau Malaya are in the top 130 bracket by the end of this year.

For the record, Malaysia were ranked 148th in the world in August last year. — Bernama