Dhaka: Bangladesh has been ranked 5th among the seven football playing nations of South Asia by the global football body FIFA as the 21st World Cup begins in Russia from Thursday.

India is on the top of the table followed by Afghanistan, Nepal and Bhutan while Sri Lanka and Pakistan were at the bottom according to a recent FIFA ranking. 

Germany, Brazil, Belgium, Portugal and Argentina are the five top ranking footballing nations in the whole world, FIFA said on June 7.

On the global ranking, Australia is the only country from Asia that figures in the top 50 by spotting on 36th. 

South Korea (57th) is the only Asian country that has qualified nine times for the world cup. 

In the global ranking, India, Afghanistan and Nepal are positioned at 97th, 145th and 161st respectively. Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are ranked very low at 194 and 200 respectively.

However, Bangladesh’s position was further below at 197 last year. 

Pakistan is lowest ranked country with 201st position out of 211 teams in the world.