India's Sunil Chettri (centre) fights Andranik Teymourian of Iran for the ball during the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier match at Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru in 2015. File Pic/PTI

New Delhi: India jumped two places to finish 2016 at 135, their best in the last six years, in the FIFA rankings published Thursday. This is India's six-year highest annual ranking after 2009 when India finished at 134. National coach Stephen Constantine attributed the upsurge to all his players and the staff.

"It can't be achieved without the help of the players. We have an exceptional batch of players as we are in the process of building the team for the future," Constantine said. But Constantine wasn't willing to go overboard with the new rankings.