The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) recently ruled against Malaysia in two Asian Cup 2027 qualifying matches: against Nepal on 25/3 and against Vietnam on 10/6/2025. This decision stemmed from Malaysia using naturalized players with falsified documents. On the field, Malaysia had won 2-0 and 4-0 respectively, but the AFC's ruling means both matches are now recorded as 0-3 losses for Malaysia. Consequently, the FIFA rankings will see significant changes.

Tien dao Joao Figueireido co re bong qua Pham Xuan Manh o tran Malaysia gap Viet Nam tren san Bukit Jalil, thanh pho Kuala Lumpur, toi 10/6/2025. Anh: Hai Tu

Previously, Vietnam had lost 0-4 to Malaysia, resulting in a deduction of 13,91 FIFA points in the 7/2025 rankings. With the recent ruling, coach Kim Sang-sik’s squad will regain those 13,91 points and earn an additional 11,08 points. This totals an increase of 24,99 points, raising Vietnam's current FIFA points to 1214,50 and moving them up 5 positions to 103rd in the world, just above Kyrgyzstan.

Vietnam is now only 10,43 points away from the Top 100 worldwide. The team will have an opportunity to re-enter this group if they win their next two matches: a friendly against Bangladesh on the evening of 26/3 and another Asian Cup qualifier against Malaysia on the evening of 31/3.

Conversely, Malaysia will face a total deduction of approximately 50 FIFA points due to the losses against Nepal and Vietnam. This will cause them to drop 15 positions, falling to 136th globally.

FIFA had previously deducted points from Malaysia's rankings after the team was awarded 0-3 losses in three friendly matches in 2025, also for using ineligible naturalized players. This incident caused Malaysia to drop 5 positions to 121st in the FIFA rankings announced in 1/2026.

The current FIFA ranking system uses the Elo formula, which directly adds or subtracts points after each match. Each team has a pre-match score, which is then adjusted based on the match result (win, draw, loss), the importance of the match, and the relative strength of the two teams. Winning against a stronger opponent yields more points, while losing to a weaker team results in a significant deduction.

The next FIFA ranking will be announced on 1/4/2026, following the national team matches at the end of march.

Today's AFC ruling also extends coach Kim's winning streak with the national team to 11 matches, starting from a 5-0 victory over Myanmar in the final group stage match of the ASEAN Cup 2024. The most recent opponent to avoid defeat against the team was the Philippines, with a 1-1 draw, also in the ASEAN Cup 2024 group stage. Across a total of 19 matches leading the national team, the South Korean coach has achieved 14 wins, two draws, and three losses.

Xuan Binh