PTV - Iran has moved up in the global ranking of national soccer teams in the world, still dominating Asia by a significant margin.

In the latest rankings released on Thursday by the world soccer governing body FIFA, Iran amassed 716 points to rank 38th, above Senegal and Mexico, the two well-known giants of football in Africa and North America.

Iran’s relatively good results in recent friendly games and its acceptable run in the 2018 World Cup qualifications have apparently lifted Team Melli to their new position.  

Asia’s other powerhouses of football, namely Japan, was ranked the 50th, followed by South Korea, Australia and United Arab Emirates.

Headed by the renowned Portuguese coach Carlos Queiroz, the Iranian team are now standing in the third spot of the Group D of the Asian section of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifications. Guam and Oman are leading the table while Turkmenistan and India are rooted to the bottom. Iran is scheduled to take on Guam on September 3, 2015.

The top 10 of the July ranking, however, saw new changes, as Argentina, the runners-up in the recent Copa América, replaced 2014 World Cup champions Germany in the first place while Chile, which dominated the South American continental tournament, jumped from the 19th to the 11th place.