Belgium (3rd, up 1) have achieved their highest-ever position following two wins in Euro 2016 qualifying, and now trail only Germany and Argentina in the latest FIFA ranking list which was published yesterday, www.fifa.com reported.

Brazil (5th, up 1) and the Netherlands (6th, down 1) have traded places.

The Brazilians defeated France (11th, down 3) 3-1, while the Netherlands had to settle for a draw against Turkey (52nd, up 4) in their Euro 2016 qualifier.

Switzerland (9th, up 3) and Spain (10th, up 1) have re-entered the top 10 at the expense of France and Italy (13th, down 3) respectively.

In addition to the above movers,several teams have risen more than 10 places since last month.

These are Wales (22nd, up 15), Belarus (83rd, up 15), Iraq (86th, up 11), Azerbaijan (115th, up 24), Syria (126th, up 26), Bermuda (129th, up 40), India (147th, up 26), Curaçao (148th, up 11), Timor-Leste (152nd, up 33), Nicaragua (154th, up 31), Guyana (155th, up 11), Gambia (156th, up 12), Bhutan (163rd, up 46), the US Virgin Islands (173rd, up 24), Brunei Darussalam (183rd, up 15) and the Cayman Islands (191st, up 14).

Most of these teams were victorious in one or more recent qualifiers, such as Bhutan, who beat Sri Lanka twice in the Asian preliminaries for the 2018 World Cup in Russia and are now positioned 163rd.

In addition to Belgium and Bhutan, Wales, the Faroe Islands (102nd, up 3) and Timor-Leste have all achieved their highest-ever position since the ranking was introduced in 1993.

Malta lost four places in this month’s list, dropping to 149th, on 158 points.

Last month, Pietro Ghedin’s men slipped to a 2-0 defeat to Georgia in an international friendly and then lost to Azerbaijan by the same scoreline in a Euro 2016 qualifier played in Baku.

Top 10
1. Germany 1,687; 2. Argentina 1,490; 3. Belgium 1,457; 4. Colombia 1,412; 5. Brazil 1,354; 6. Netherlands 1,301, 7. Portugal 1,221; 8. Uruguay 1,176; 9. Switzerland 1,135; 10. Spain 1,132.