Nepal, bereft from international matches since 2004, has stepped down one step to 180th in the FIFA world ranking for October, published by FIFA.

The Pakistan team has retained its 169th position while others south Asian countries: India, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are also ahead of Himalayan Kingdom. Bhutan is in the 189th position while Afghanistan is 200th.

Japan’s 2-1 win over Iran in the FIFA 2006 World Cup Asian Qualifiers last month means that the Asian Cup holders have leapfrogged their rivals to become the continent’s top team once again.

The two teams have exchanged the number one spot amongst Asian teams on the official FIFA World Ranking over the past three months with Iran edging Japan narrowly in August. However, Zico’s side regained pole position and moved up to 16th in the world thanks to their victory against the Iranians and 5-4 win over Honduras in a friendly.

Uzbekistan were the biggest mover on the Asian ranking as they jumped from ninth to sixth following their 3-2 win against Kuwait in the World Cup qualifiers that sent them through to a playoff against Asian number five Bahrain.

The Uzbeks also went up five spots in the World Ranking to 57th with DPR Korea the next biggest mover as they raised four positions to 13th in the Asian ranking after their surprise 3-2 victory against Bahrain.

Australia, who officially join the AFC in January, are up seven spots to 50th after beating Solomon Islands twice in the Oceania region playoffs for the World Cup. It leaves the Australians trailing only Japan, Iran, Korea Republic and Saudi Arabia in the World Ranking.