DUSHANBE, March 5, 2010, Asia-Plus  - Tajikistan’s national football team climbed from 148th to 128th position in the FIFA World Rankings that was updated on March 3, 2010.

Among the top five teams are Spain, Brazil, the Netherlands, Italy and Germany.

It is to be noted that Tajikistan’s best result is the 118th position in 1997 and its worst result is the 180th position in 2003.

The FIFA World Rankings is a ranking system for men''s national teams in Association football, currently led by Spain. The teams of the member nations of FIFA, football''s world governing body, are ranked based on their game results with the most successful teams being ranked highest. The rankings were introduced in 1992, and six teams (Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy and Spain) have held the top position, of which Brazil have spent longest ranked first.

A point system is used, with points being awarded based on the results of FIFA-recognized international matches.  Under the existing system, rankings are based on a team''s performance over the last four years, with more recent results and more significant matches being more heavily weighted to help reflect the current competitive state of a team.