Brazil top rankings for fourth year in row

For the fourth year in a row, Brazil took the title as best team of the year after finishing 2005 at the top of the table and 44 points clear of their nearest rivals, a position they resiliently held on to for the entire year.

The Czech Republic, finishing in second position, bettered their end-of-2004 ranking by two positions, while other notable movers within the top ten include the Netherlands (3rd, up 3 ranks on 2004), Mexico (5th, up 2) and the USA (8th, up 3), who made it to their highest ever ranking position (6th) in July of this year.

Ghana eventually won the race for the Best Mover title, shaking off competition from Ethiopia and Togo.

Ethiopia stood out when it came to improving ranking position, climbing 39 places in 2005 to reach rank 112, with Togo (56th, up 33) and Scotland (60th, up 26) also gaining more than 25 ranking positions.

Malta also made a notable change from the position occupied 12 months ago. In January, the national team was 135th with 354 points but in yesterday's ranking list Malta was ranked joint 118th with Cape Verde Islands, both on 371 points, five positions better off than November.

The Maltese started the year badly but two significant 1-1 draws in the World Cup qualifying phase against Croatia and Bulgaria contributed in no small measure towards a late revival.

Malta is now four positions behind nearest UEFA members Azerbaijan (114) and leading Liechtenstein (122), Andorra (125), Faroe Islands (132), Kazakhstan (137), Luxembourg (150) and San Marino (155).

American Samoa are at the bottom of the FIFA rankings in 205th position. Trinidad and Tobago were the most active team in 2005, contesting 28 matches.

Meanwhile, Scotland topped the list of most richly rewarded matches in 2005 by collecting 44.4 points in their 3-0 victory over Slovenia in October - a World Cup qualifying win which unfortunately came too late for the Scots.

To date, a total of 743 matches have been played in 2005 with some additional games outstanding. This means 2005 was rather 'quiet' in comparison to previous years. Almost half of the matches played (352) were part of the preliminary competition for the World Cup.

Note: FIFA's standings are based on a statistical analysis of countries' results over eight years, weighted according to how recently the matches were played, the strength of the opponents and the importance of each match.