No changes as football takes a breather

The last four weeks have seen international football take a breather between the Africa Cup of Nations and the year's other big events, Euro 2008 and the preliminary competition for the 2010 World Cup.

Only a dozen or so international matches have been played, producing no more than a ripple on the latest instalment of the FIFA world rankings.

The top 14 positions remain the same as last month, with Argentina, Brazil and Italy all maintaining a fairly comfortable lead over their pursuers.

Honduras (43rd, up 7) are the biggest movers in the top 50, whereas the highest climbers of the month are to be found in the middle of the ranking, namely, Equatorial Guinea (64th, up 14), Oman (86th, up 12), Guyana (113th, up 19) and Grenada (157th, up 11), with the two CONCACAF teams enjoying some success lately.

Equatorial Guinea and Oman, meanwhile, have benefited from the devaluation of matches from last year from which they emerged either empty-handed or did not score highly.

Due to the low level of movement in the rankings, the composition of the top 50 also remains unchanged compared to last month. UEFA has 27 teams, whereas Africa, South America, Asia and the CONCACAF countries have nine, six, five and three representatives respectively.