FIFA ranking: Argentina climb 3rd
With plenty of movement in the latest edition of the FIFA World Ranking, Spain at top and Germany in second-placed remain unchallenged, while Argentina’s move into third place following wins over Uruguay (11th, down 4) and Chile (21st, down 4) edging Portugal down to fourth.
Also benefiting from two victories are Italy (5th, up 3) and Russia (9th, up 3), the latter moving into the top ten for the first time since October 2010.
Brazil, who are hosting the 2014 world finals and thus have no potential points-earning qualifiers, managed to stay 13th thanks to two runaway wins in friendlies against Iraq (97th, down 17) and Japan (24th, down 1).
Six teams have reached their highest-ever position since the FIFA World Ranking was launched in 1993: Algeria (19th, up 5), Haiti (57th, up 3), Dominican Republic (92nd, up 10), St Kitts and Nevis (106th, up 16), Philippines (143rd, up 4) and Timor-Leste (187th, up 19).
The results of 146 'A' internationals have been taken into account on the current edition of the ranking, of which more than half (77) were qualifiers for the next FIFA World Cup. 25 were CONCACAF/AFC continental qualifiers and 44 were friendlies.
Rnk Team Pts +/- Pos
1 Spain 1564 0
2 Germany 1421 0
3 Argentina 1349 1
4 Portugal 1178 -1
5 Italy 1169 3
6 England 1167 -1
7 Netherlands 1128 -1
8 Colombia 1110 1
9 Russia 1084 3
10 Croatia 1078 1
11 Uruguay 1047 -4
12 Greece 1004 -2
13 Brazil 994 1
14 Mexico 984 5
15 Côte d'Ivoire 974 1
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