At the summit of FIFA’s world rankings, world and European champions Spain are still comfortable out in front, followed by Germany and England.

In the latest list issued yesterday, the Three Lions have overtaken Uruguay, who are now in fourth place having lost points due to the devaluation of matches from last year’s Copa America.

In addition to England, a further six teams are currently in their best-ever ranking positions: Ecuador (20th, up 7), Libya (38th, up 1), Central African Republic (71st, up 2), Dominican Republic (118th, up 12), Aruba (157th, up 7) and American Samoa (182nd, up 1).

While the eyes of the sporting world are fixed on the Olympics in London, this month’s rankings reveal a newcomer to the fold – South Sudan.

South Sudan, who became FIFA’s 209th member in Budapest earlier this year, played their first official international in their capital city of Juba on July 10.

Their much-heralded 2-2 draw with Uganda was worth 20 ranking points and sees the Southern Sudanese make their debut in 199th place.

Malta moved up two places this month and are now ranked 143rd.

The national team are sharing that position with St Vincent, both on 196 points.

Malta can further improve their FIFA ranking with another posi-tive result next week in a friendly international against San Marino in Serra Valle.

The results of only 12 matches were taken into account for this latest edition of the rankings.

More movement can be expected in the next edition, however, with the inclusion of the many friendlies due to be played next Wednesday.

Top 20 nations

1. Spain 1,605; 2. Germany 1,474, 3. England 1,294; 4. Uruguay 1,236; 5. Portugal 1,213; 6. Italy 1,192; 7. Argentina 1,098; 8. Netherlands 1,053; 9. Croatia 1,050, 10. Denmark 1,017; 11. Russia 1,016; 12. Greece 1,003, 13. Brazil 991; 14. France 980; 15. Chile 953; 16. Ivory Coast 939; 17. Sweden 909; 18. Mexico 862; 19. Czech Rep. 854; 20. Ecuador 836.