Afghanistan has jumped 48 places in the International Football Federation, FIFA, ranking with its excellent performance in Asia Federation Cup qualifying tournaments. Afghan national team has climbed to 141st place from the 189th after qualifying for the 2014 Challenge Cup to be played in the Maldives next year. The AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers were held in Laos in which Afghan football team defeated Sri Lanka and Mongolia while its match with hosts Laos ended 1-1 draw. Afghanistan was one of the seven teams to qualify out of the 20 participants. Afghan Football Federation has called the new ranking a great achievement for the people of Afghanistan.