In comparison to last month, there were only a few changes to the latest edition of the FIFA rankings, published yesterday.

In many countries, the national championships are drawing to a close, which explains the small number of matches played at international level: only eight, all of which were friendlies, unfolded over the past month.

Spain continue to top the global ladder ahead of Germany and Uruguay, followed by the Netherlands and Portugal.

The only change in the top 30 has been Argentina’s ousting of Denmark to occupy ninth place.

Malta’s position was also unchanged as the national team remained at no.150, sandwiched between Nepal and Indonesia on 161 points.

In UEFA rankings only, Malta is third-bottom in the list of 53 nations, only ahead of Andorra and San Marino.

The composition of the top 50 remains unchanged.

With 28 teams, UEFA remains the best represented confederation in the top 50, followed by CONMEBOL (nine), CAF (seven), CONCACAF (three) and the AFC (three).

In 130th place, New Zealand are Oceania’s top-ranked team.

The next edition of the FIFA rankings will undoubtedly bring more movement with it, as friendly matches are played in Europe, in particular, to warm up for Euro 2012 and another batch of 2014 World Cup qualifiers will influence calculations.

Top 20 nations

1. Spain - 1,442
2. Germany - 1,345
3. Uruguay - 1,309
4. Netherlands - 1,207
5. Portugal - 1,190
6. Brazil - 1,165
7. England - 1,132
8. Croatia - 1,114
9. Argentina - 1,076
10. Denmark - 1,069
11. Russia - 1,049
12. Italy - 1,041
13. Chile - 968
14. Greece - 961
15. Ivory Coast - 951
16. France - 938
17. Sweden - 931
18. Ireland - 891
18. Switzerland - 891
20. Mexico - 867