KUALA LUMPUR: The Harimau Malaya squad have climbed up two spots to 132 in the world based on the latest FIFA world ranking today.

According to the www.fifa.com website, head coach Pau Marti Vicente’s team had accumulated 1,117.64 points to move up from the 134th position they had occupied since July 18.

The Malaysian football team achieved this after ending an 11-year drought by emerging as champions of the 2024 Merdeka Tournament which was also participated by defending champions Tajikistan, Lebanon and the Philippines at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil here from Sept 2-10.

However, Malaysia find themselves still way behind other Southeast Asian nations like Vietnam (world number 116) and Thailand (world number 100).

As for the Asian zone, the five top teams are Japan (world number 16), followed by Iran (19th), South Korea (23rd), Australia (25th) and Saudi Arabia (56th).

Meanwhile, 2022 World Cup winners Argentina remained at number one in the world, followed by France (second), Spain (third), England (fourth) and Brazil (fifth).