Northern Ireland reach highest FIFA world ranking
Thursday 6 July 2017 12:25, UK
Northern Ireland have achieved their highest FIFA world ranking of 22nd.
That is 107 places higher than when the governing body published their standings nearly five years ago.
At that point Northern Ireland had dropped to a new low of 129th, putting them below Niger, Turkmenistan and New Caledonia.
But, having beaten New Zealand and Azerbaijan last month, Michael O'Neill's team are now ranked ten places above the Netherlands.
Northern Ireland still face a daunting task if they reach the play-offs for World Cup qualification.
They are currently one of the eight best second-place teams in the qualifying groups but there are four nations still above them in the world rankings, meaning they would be unseeded in the play-off draw.
There is still a chance that Northern Ireland will be seeded in the draw but they would need to finish their campaign strongly and hope results in other groups go their way.
