The August edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking shows a change in the top three, with Belgium (2nd, up 1) swapping places with Germany (3rd, down 1) behind leaders Argentina. A little below them, Chile (10th, up 1) have entered the top ten at the expense of the Netherlands (12th, down 7). The loss of points by Germany and the Netherlands is due to the devaluation of last year’s FIFA World Cup™ matches.
Further down the global ladder, the CONCACAF Gold Cup finalists have made good ground: Mexico (26th, up 14), winners of the trophy for the tenth time, have risen 14 places, while this year’s surprise package, Jamaica (55th, up 21), are now just outside the top 50 following a sizeable 21-spot leap.
In addition to the above teams, Albania (22nd, up 14), Malawi (98th, up 10), Sierra Leone (104th, up 7), Mauritania (113rd, up 15), Swaziland (132nd, up 6), Guam (146th, up 8) and Guyana (152nd, up 7) all went up by more than five places in August.
The following teams have achieved their highest-ever position: Wales (9th, up 1), Austria (14th, up 1), Slovakia (14th, up 1), Albania (22nd, up 14), Congo (43rd, up 4) and Guam (146th, up 8).
As the Cape Verde Islands (50th, up 2) and the Republic of Ireland (50th, up 2) are in joint-50th, there are currently 51 teams in the top 50, a group that now includes Israel (47th, up 4) in place of Japan (56th, down 6) and Serbia (66th, down 23).
Consequently, the breakdown of teams in the top 50 per confederation now looks as follows: UEFA: 31 (up 1); CONMEBOL: 8 (unchanged); CAF: 8 (up 1); CONCACAF: 3 (unchanged); AFC: 1 (down 1); OFC: 0 (unchanged).
Of the 29 international ‘A’ matches taken into account for this month’s FIFA Ranking, 26 were CONCACAF Gold Cup matches and the remaining three were friendlies.
The next FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking will be published on 3 September 2015.
FIFA
