Brazil moved up to fourth in the FIFA rankings after wins over Colombia and Ecuador in World Cup qualifiers.

The large number of qualifying fixtures for continental competitions (26 matches) and the 2018 World Cup (61 matches) over September is reflected in significant movement in the latest edition of the FIFA world rankings.

Despite the shifts up and down the rankings, however, Argentina and Belgium remain fixed in first and second place respectively, cementing their positions at the summit of the world rankings for another month.

Elsewhere in the top five, Germany (3, up 1) and Colombia (4, down 1) traded places while a rejuvenated Brazil, under new coach Tite, moved into joint fourth place thanks largely due to victories against Colombia and Ecuador in World Cup qualifiers.

A little further down, Uruguay (9, up 3) and Wales (10, up 1) muscled their way into the top ten at the expense of Spain (11, down 3) and Italy (13, down 3).

While Brazil are the month’s biggest points scorers, Bolivia climbed furthest (75, up 35), followed by Malawi (99, up 28), Faroe Islands (111, up 24) and the Dominican Republic (114, up 24)

The two most recent member associations to join FIFA, Gibraltar and Kosovo, participated in their first ever World Cup preliminary matches this month.

With only two A-games to their name in ranking history, Kosovo (168, up 22) were the fifth-biggest climbers this month.

Kosovo are eight places above Malta who remained 176th in the September classification, level with Laos on 99 points.

Pietro Ghedin’s team played two international games over the past few weeks, drawing 1-1 with Estonia in a friendly game before going down 5-1 at home to Scotland in their opening 2018 World Cup qualifier.

Gibraltar (205) secured no points from their two matches, the first of which was against newly crowned European champions Portugal (7, down 1).

A notable mention goes to the four teams breaking into the top 50: Scotland (44, up 7), Australia (45, up 12), Greece (48, up 4) and Uzbekistan (49, up 6).

A total of 126 international A-matches were played over the past few weeks, bringing the total number of games for the 2016 to 632.

Top 10
1. Argentina 1,646 points; 2. Belgium 1,369; 3. Germany 1,347; 4. Colombia 1,323; 4. Brazil 1,323; 6. Chile 1,284; 7. Portugal 1,228; 8. France 1,188; 9. Uruguay 1,173; 10. Wales 1,161.