British football coach Desmond Bulpin is expected to further help the country improve its global standing after the Philippines got a minor boost in the last FIFA rankings, the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) announced.

Bulbin, who has been hired to help grassroots development, is expected to arrive anytime to take up his job, a very difficult one considering local football’s current malaise.

Based on the latest standings, the Philippines is now ranked 155th in the FIFA-Coca-Cola World Ranking – a modest improvement from its 190th place the previous year.

While the country is still way below the class of ASEAN neighbors like Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia, the jump in the standings, according to PFF General Secretary Cyril Dofitas is a huge achievement.

“This is very encouraging for our national team, knowing that we have improved in the football world, our players will be motivated to play better,” said Dofitas.

Dofitas attributed the improvement to several factors but the biggest he said is: “Our attendance in the international competitions. We have been continuously participating in international tournaments.”

“This is a very good way of telling the world that the PFF is doing everything to improve our image abroad,” said Dofitas, who added that Bulpin is arriving this week to start molding the RP team to one big, fighting unit.