Germany have returned to top spot in the FIFA world rankings following their Confederations Cup title triumph over Chile.

Joachim Loew’s world champions lost their number one tag exactly two years ago but a 1-0 victory in St Petersburg on Sunday – thanks to Lars Stindl’s winner midway through the first half – saw them take a narrow lead over second-placed Brazil.

Julen Lopetegui’s Spain dropped out of the top 10 to sit in 11th, with a World Cup qualifier next up in September against 12th-placed Italy in Madrid.

Argentina dropped down a spot to third to sit ahead of Portugal, who gained four places to claim fourth with Switzerland joining them in the top five, while Poland celebrate their best-ever ranking after moving up two spots to sit sixth.

Other countries that gained advantage in the latest rankings are Sweden, who moved a massive 16 spots to sit 18th, and Iceland, who record their best-ever placing of 19th – up from 22nd – to make the top 20. Malta’s slide in the FIFA rankings continued this month as the national team lost nine places and is now sharing the 191st positon.

This is Malta’s worst-ever placing in the world governing body list.

Last month, the national team beat Ukraine in an international friendly in Austria but the match did not carry ranking points as the two teams made more than six substitutions.

Pietro Ghedin’s men then lost to Slovenia 2-0 in a World Cup qualifier in Ljubljana that left the team bottom of their group, still without a point after six matches.

Top 10: 1. Germany 1,609; 2. Brazil 1,603; 3. Argentina 1,413; 4. Portugal 1,332; 5. Switzerland 1,329; 6. Poland 1,319; 7. Chile 1,250; 8. Colombia 1,366; 9. France 1,199; 10. Belgium 1,194.

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