BEIJING - China has dropped three slots in the rankings issued Thursday by the soccer's world ruling body FIFA, which was its lowest in the last 15 months.

With no games played in the previous month, China has 351 points to rank 96th, three slots lower than last month. In the continental table, China was in the 12th, following DPR Korea, according to the FIFA website.

The Chinese men's team is on the verge of elimination from the 2018 World Cup with two matches left.

Third in its qualifying group for Russia 2018, China faces the Maldives at home on March 24 and Qatar on March 29. China only managed two draws against both Qatar and Hong Kong, China, who occupy the top two in the group.

Iran is the highest ranked Asian team in the 44th position, followed by South Korea and Japan in 56th and 57th respectively.

Belgium maintains the top place, followed by Argentina and Spain.