Argentina will not take over at the top of FIFA’s World Ranking this month — despite defeating France to win the World Cup for the first time since 1986....CONTINUE READING THE FULL ARTICLE>>>
South American rivals Brazil have held the No. 1 position since February, when they deposed Belgium at the summit.
But even though the Selecao failed to make it past the quarterfinals, Argentina’s results haven’t been enough to overtaken them.
Brazil won three games at the World Cup, lost to Cameroon and suffered a penalty shootout defeat at the hands of Croatia.
Argentina, meanwhile, won four games, lost one to Saudi Arabia and were twice victorious on penalties — including the final on Sunday as they beat France 4-2 on spot kicks.
Argentina won the Copa America in 2021 and are now world champions, but it’s not enough for the No. 1 spot.
Shootout successes are worth far fewer ranking points than regulation-time wins. If either Argentina or France had won the final within 120 minutes they would have gone to No. 1, but a penalty shootout guaranteed that Brazil could not be overtaken.
Argentina and France both move up one place into second and third respectively, while Belgium slide down two places to fourth after failing to make it beyond the group stage.
England stay in fifth, with fellow quarterfinalists Netherlands up two places into sixth.
Croatia’s run to a third-place finish at the World Cup sees them as the biggest climbers into the top 10, up five places from 12th.
Italy, who failed to make it to Qatar, drop two spots to eighth. Portugal are unchanged in ninth, with Spain down three places to 10th.
The biggest climbers are Morocco and Australia, who both rose 11 places. Both countries massively overperformed, with fourth-place Morocco now the top-ranked African team in 11th and Australia, which made the round of 16, up to 27th.
It’s not Morocco’s highest-ever ranking, as they were 10th in 1998, but as recently as 2015 they were as low as 92nd.
Cameroon also enjoy a big rise of 10 places up to 33rd, thanks to their win over Brazil.
The United States takes over as the top-ranking CONCACAF team, up three places into 13th as Mexico falls two into 15th.
Canada and Qatar are the biggest fallers, both dropping 12 places into 53rd and 62nd respectively.
Wales slump nine spots into 28th; Denmark are down eight into 18th and Serbia drop eight to 29th.
The new FIFA World Ranking, which is a rolling assessment of results weighted for importance, will be officially published on Thursday.
FIFA top 20 ranking:
1. Brazil
2. Argentina
3. France
4. Belgium
5. England
6. Netherlands
7. Croatia
8. Italy
9. Portugal
10. Spain
11. Morocco
12. Switzerland
13. USA
14. Germany
15. Mexico
16. Uruguay
17. Colombia
18. Denmark
19. Senegal
20. Japan
