South Korea jumped three spots to No. 44 in the latest FIFA rankings despite their loss to Iran earlier this month.
FIFA, the world football body headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, announced its October world rankings on Thursday (local time). The rankings showed South Korea remained as the third-highest-ranked member of the Asian Football Confederation behind No. 27 Iran and No. 40 Australia.
Iran moved up 10 spots from their September rankings, while Australia climbed up five spots.
South Korea suffered their first loss in the final Asian qualifying round for the 2018 FIFA World Cup last week. The Taeguk Warriors fell 1-0 to Iran at Azadi Stadium in Tehran.
Both South Korea and Iran have been paired in Group A, where they are also competing against Uzbekistan (No. 48), Syria (No. 96), Qatar (No. 91) and China (No. 84). With two wins, a draw and a loss, South Korea are currently third in the group behind Iran and Uzbekistan.
Meanwhile, Argentina maintained their No. 1 position in the FIFA rankings, followed by Germany, Brazil, Belgium and Colombia. (Yonhap)
