Following another packed round of 2018 World Cup qualifiers, there has been a reshuffle on the FIFA ranking podium as Germany and Brazil have moved into second and third respectively, the world governing body reported yesterday.

A pair of wins for the current world champions, who saw off Czech Republic (40th, down 7) and Northern Ireland (36th, down 6) – just two of the 129 games played worldwide – means they have trimmed Argentina’s lead to just 156 points.

Belgium (4th, down 2) have fallen out of the top three for the first time since March 2015, with Colombia slipping to fifth (down 1), while defeated Euro 2016 finalists France (up 1) have leapfrogged European champions Portugal (8th, down 1) into seventh.

Spain return to the top ten, while Poland (15th, up 2), Iceland (21st, up 6) and Kosovo (164th, up 4) have moved up to their highest-ever placings.

The biggest rise in terms of places and points this month has gone the way of Montenegro (56th, up 49), following wins over Kazakhstan (90th, down 7) and Denmark (50th, down 4).

There have also been impressive leaps from the likes of Azerbaijan (88th, up 45) and Faroe Islands (74th, up 37) – the latter equalling their highest-ever position.

There have been noteworthy two-digit climbs for Iran (27th, up 10) and Slovenia (52nd, up 15), while Israel (79th, up 19), Syria (96th, up 18) and Lithuania (98th, up 19) have made substantial moves around the top 100.

Cyprus (139th, down 52) suffered the heaviest drop in the rankings. Meanwhile, there have been notable two-figure demotions for Russia (53rd, down 15) – taking them out of the top 50 – and the quintet of Finland (101st, down 17), Jordan (104th, down 18), Mauritania (115th, down 19), New Zealand (116th, down 28) and Latvia (116th, down 21) – seeing them move out of the top 100.

Malta drop two spots

Malta have lost further ground in the FIFA rankings after slipping two places.

The national side, who lost to England (2-0) and Lithuania (2-0) in this month’s World Cup qualifiers, are now ranked 178th on 97 points and trail the likes of Laos, Gambia and Vanuatu.

Top 10
1. Argentina 1,621; 2. Germany 1,465; 3. Brazil 1,410; 4. Belgium 1,382; 5. Colombia 1,361; 6. Chile 1,273; 7. France 1,271; 8. Portugal 1,231; 9. Uruguay 1,175; 10. Spain 1,168.

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