Ceres-Negros FC become No. 1 side in ASEAN after overtaking Buriram United

After the conclusion of the AFC Champions League,  Ceres-Negros have now displaced Buriram as Asia’s No. 25 while the Thai League 1 giants have fallen to 26th in the rankings table.

Philippine Football League champions began their 2020 ACL qualification campaign in Preliminary Round 1 and had defeated Myanmar’s Shan United 3-2 and Thailand’s Port FC 1-0 before going down 2-0 to Japan’s FC Tokyo in the play-off tie this week.

In the meantime, Buriram defeated Vietnamese FC Ho Chi Minh City FC 2-1 in Preliminary Round 2 before losing to Chinese Super League giants Shanghai SIPG 3-0 in the play-off at the Yuanshen Sports Centre Stadium in Shanghai on Tuesday.

Having earned 5.50 points for their exploits, Ceres now have 40.75 points to their credit in the AFC Club Rankings while Buriram have 40.67 after collecting only three points in 2020 so far, according to FootyRankings. The Bacolod-based club had previously taken the No. 1 spot in ASEAN back in May 2019, but Buriram had wrested back the top position not much later.

However, with Buriram no longer involved in continental football this season and Ceres set to begin their campaign in AFC Cup 2020, that points gap is expected to increase especially if the Busmen can put on a good show in AFC’s second-tier continental club competition.