FIFA rankings, England back in top 10

European champions Spain remained on top of the soccer world rankings for a fifth successive month following the publication of the latest FIFA standings today, while England returned to the top 10.

Spain celebrated back-to-back World Cup qualifying victories over Belgium and Estonia in October to maintain their perfect record in the campaign so far.

Germany, who also won twice in October, have climbed back into second place at the expense of Italy with the world champions paying the price for last month's goalless World Cup qualifying draw in Bulgaria.

After failing to qualify for Euro 2008, England saw their stock improve as they re-entered the top 10 for the first time since the June tournament.

England, who beat Kazakhstan and Belarus in World Cup qualifying last month, are one of only three European sides, along with Spain and Netherlands, to have won all their qualifiers to date. Brazil, the highest ranked of the non-European teams, slipped one place to fifth, mainly due to their goalless home draw against Colombia on Oct. 15.

Malta's ranking is 150, down four places.

FIFA rankings (previous position in brackets):

1. (1) Spain

2. (3) Germany

3. (2) Italy

4. (5) Netherlands

5. (4) Brazil

6. (7) Argentina

7. (6) Croatia

8. (9) Russia

9. (8) Czech Republic

10= (10) Portugal

10= (14) England

12. (11) France

13. (13) Turkey

14. (12) Cameroon

15. (16) Israel

16. (15) Bulgaria

17. (22) Paraguay

18. (17) Greece

19. (18) Romania

20. (19) Ukraine