South Korean football, which crashed out of the group stage with its worst performance at the 2026 World Cup in North America, has received its lowest FIFA ranking in four years and six months.
According to the men's world football rankings updated by FIFA on Sunday (Korea time), South Korea sat in 32nd place with 1,558.72 ranking points.
FIFA discloses its rankings and points by reflecting the results of A matches, or matches between national teams, in real time.
South Korea's FIFA ranking is its lowest in four years and six months, since 33rd place in December 2021.
After rising to 29th in February 2022, South Korea had consistently maintained a place in the top 20, but at this World Cup it finished 34th out of 48 nations, causing its ranking to fall sharply.
Canada, which beat South Africa 1-0 in the round of 32 that day, rose to 30th place.
Depending on the results of upcoming matches involving teams that advanced to the round of 32, including Sweden (36th), Paraguay (37th) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (41st), South Korea's ranking could fall further.
Meanwhile, the Korea Football Association said the national team would return home through Incheon International Airport on Monday morning.
Along with manager Hong, who has expressed his intention to resign, eight players are scheduled to return home: Jo Hyeon-woo (Ulsan), Kim Min-jae (Munich), Hwang In-beom (Feyenoord), Hwang Hee-chan (Wolverhampton), Baek Seung-ho (Birmingham City), Kim Moon-hwan (Daejeon), Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain) and Seol Young-woo (Crvena Zvezda).
