Germany retain FIFA rankings summit
Lausanne, Switzerland: Germany, Brazil and Portugal retained the top three places in the latest FIFA rankings released Thursday.
There was little movement in the FIFA charts with Argentina and Belgium completing the top five and 2018 World Cup hosts Russia placed 64th.
The world champions, who qualified to defend their crown in Russia by winning all ten of their qualifiers and have been unbeaten in 15 matches in 2017, succeed Argentina and Belgium, who were ‘Team of the Year’ in 2016 and 2015 respectively. Germany held on to top spot in a largely unchanged Ranking that reflects the fact that just 41 ‘A’ internationals have been played since the previous edition, and that few of those involved teams at the top end of the table.
The result of that is a top 50 that shows only five changes, all minor and all outside the top 30, with Serbia (36th, up 1), Bosnia-Herzegovina (37th, up 1), Australia (38th, up 1) and Ghana (50th, up 1) all making identically narrow gains and Congo DR (39th, down 3) slipping slightly.
There is, however, some notable movement further down the order, with Vanuatu (157th, up 28), Vietnam (112th, up 13), Mongolia (187th, up 12), Myanmar (140th, up 10), and Fiji (168th, up 10) all registering double-digit climbs. Palestine (80th, up 2) and Luxembourg (83rd, up 1) also have reason to celebrate, having risen to their highest positions since the Ranking’s inception.
