Somewhat unsurprisingly, the latest edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking shows that world champions Italy are back on top, with Luca Toni`s brace against Scotland in the UEFA EURO 2008 qualifiers helping to bring Argentina`s brief, one-month reign to an abrupt halt.
The Argentinians, who have not played since the last edition of the ranking, have fallen away slightly due to the devaluation of results from previous years, as have Brazil despite recording two victories in friendly matches. There is better news, however, for the Netherlands (sixth, up one), Portugal (seventh, up one) and Spain (ninth, up one) who all move up one place in the top ten, but England (eighth, down two) and the Czech Republic (tenth, down one) slip back after a draw in Israel and defeat to Germany respectively. Impressive performances in their EURO 2008 qualifiers result in climbs for Turkey (17th, up ten), the Republic of Ireland (31st, up 20), Northern Ireland (33rd, up 14) and Bosnia-Herzegovina (47th, up 11). Thanks to their stunning victory over Sweden, the Northern Irish have equalled their best-ever world ranking performance, a height last achieved in May 1994. Success in qualifiers for the CAF Africa Cup of Nations 2008 has also brought significant gains for three major African teams - Cameroon (13th, up five), Nigeria (27th, up nine) and Guinea (50th, up 12).
Further down the ranking, nine other teams also jump ten or more places, with Liechtenstein (131st, up 31) making the biggest move thanks to their triumph over Latvia, which was only Liechtenstein`s fourth ever victory in competitive football.
- The next FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking will be published on 16 May 2007.
1 | Italy | 1604 | 1 | 12 |
2 | Argentina | 1594 | -1 | -22 |
3 | Brazil | 1520 | 0 | -37 |
4 | France | 1496 | 0 | -19 |
5 | Germany | 1393 | 0 | 3 |
6 | Netherlands | 1302 | 1 | -11 |
7 | Portugal | 1292 | 1 | 4 |
8 | England | 1278 | -2 | -61 |
9 | Spain | 1237 | 1 | 76 |
10 | Czech Republic | 1169 | -1 | -26 |
11 | Ukraine | 1021 | 0 | -16 |
12 | Croatia | 1011 | 0 | 29 |
13 | Cameroon | 968 | 5 | 75 |
14 | Romania | 929 | 0 | 10 |
15 | Greece | 905 | -2 | -56 |
16 | Russia | 901 | 7 | 47 |
17 | Turkey | 892 | 10 | 77 |
18 | Mexico | 888 | 3 | 15 |
19 | Scotland | 885 | -3 | -26 |
20 | Switzerland | 877 | -3 | -29 |
Rank | Team | Pts: Apr 07 | +/-Rank Mar 07 | +/-Pts: Mar 07 |
21 | Poland | 870 | 3 | 20 |
22 | Denmark | 863 | 0 | 1 |
23 | Uruguay | 862 | 3 | 21 |
24 | Sweden | 857 | -9 | -57 |
25 | Côte d`Ivoire | 847 | -5 | -28 |
26 | Colombia | 825 | 5 | 81 |
27 | Nigeria | 824 | 9 | 130 |
28 | Ghana | 813 | -9 | -68 |
29 | USA | 782 | 1 | 37 |
30 | Ecuador | 780 | -6 | -70 |
31 | Republic of Ireland | 766 | 20 | 189 |
32 | Serbia | 757 | -4 | -11 |
33 | Israel | 742 | 5 | 53 |
33 | Northern Ireland | 742 | 14 | 127 |
35 | Paraguay | 711 | -6 | -37 |
36 | Slovakia | 699 | 1 | 6 |
37 | Chile | 696 | -5 | -12 |
38 | Bulgaria | 695 | 1 | 8 |
39 | Egypt | 689 | 2 | 44 |
40 | Mali | 686 | -5 | -10 |