Europe occupies the top three places on the FIFA world rankings after Portugal climbed third behind leaders Spain and Germany in this month’s list.

They are followed by four South American sides in Colombia (4th, up 1), Uruguay (5th, up 1) and fierce rivals Argentina (down 3) and Brazil (up 3), who share sixth position.

Just 12 points separate this quartet.

Greece return to the top 10 for the first time since October 2012, while Scotland (22nd, up 15) are the only team to have climbed over 10 places.

Two teams managed to reach their highest-ever positions – Azerbaijan (85th, up 6) and Afghanistan (122nd, up 5).

Malta have gained seven places in this month’s list. Pietro Ghedin’s team, who lost 2-0 away to Albania in their last friendly in March, have leapfrogged Cyprus (128) and are currently ranked 127th on 204 points.

Conversely, a number of teams have dropped by more than 10 places: Albania (70th, down 16), Israel (78th, down 13), New Zealand (111th, down 21), Liberia (119th, down 22), Dominican Republic (126th, down 15), Tajikistan (133rd, down 12), New Caledonia (136th, down 18), Philippines (143rd, down 13), Turkmenistan (156th, down 14), Tahiti (157th, down 19) and Hong Kong (158th, down 13).

Only six matches were played over the past month. The majority of changes to the FIFA rankings can be attributed to the devaluation of matches from previous years, most of which were FIFA World Cup qualifiers and now have a greatly reduced weighting.

UEFA has an unparalleled 27 sides in the leading half-century, following by CONMEBOL and the CAF on eight, CONCACAF on five and the AFC on two.

Top 10

1. Spain 1,460; 2. Germany 1,340; 3. Portugal 1,245; 4. Colombia 1,186; 5. Uruguay 1,181; 6. Argentina 1,174; 6. Brazil 1,174; 8. Switzerland 1,161; 9. Italy 1,115; 10. Greece 1,082.