Tasnim - Iran jumped two places to the 43rd spot in the global football rankings in the latest list released by FIFA on Thursday.

Iran currently sits as Asia's highest ranked side, followed by South Korea (51st), Japan (53rd) and Australia (59th).

The world's top 20 remained unchanged with Belgium holding onto its ranking as the number one nation in the world.

The confederation leaders for the first ranking of 2016 mirror those of December’s ranking. Belgium, Argentina, Côte d’Ivoire, Mexico, Iran and New Zealand hold onto continental bragging rights for the time being. 15 games from December 2015 and one “A” match from 2016 have been evaluated for the latest edition.