Being first in the FIFA World Rankings is old news for Belgium, as they sit above all since 2018. Brazil come second, while England went up to third according to the latest update from FIFA. France dropped to fourth. Euro 2020 champions Italy are only fifth, with Copa America winners Argentina below them.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal follows, then Spain, Mexico, and Denmark complete the top 10. Many of the national sides mentioned are stagnating. Only Denmark, Portugal, and England have progressed since 12 August, when the previous rankings were released.
All but three teams in the top 10 are European.
USA’s disappointing draws against El Salvador and Canada made them lose their 10th position in the top. USMNT are now 13th.
The most impressive climb belongs to Lybia, as they gained 12 places and are now 110th thanks to their World Cup qualifying wins against Angola and Gabon.
What are the FIFA rankings?
These regularly updated world hierarchies affect the composition of qualification pools for international finals. The best nations are thus separated into different groups, making it impossible for England, France, or Italy, for example, to be drawn together in the same qualification group.
Rankings of this kind started in 1992. Since then, only eight teams have topped the table: Brazil, Germany, Argentina, Italy, France, Spain, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
The full FIFA Men’s Rankings can be found here.