FIFA rankings: France number one, Croatia and England soar, Nigeria, Germany and Argentina drop
World Cup glory has propelled France to the top of FIFA’s latest world rankings, with the impact of Russia 2018 felt for better or worse among a number of football’s heavyweight nations.
Didier Deschamps’ team claimed their country’s second world title with a 4-2 victory over Croatia in Moscow last month and move up six places to the top of the pile.
These are the first set of rankings released under FIFA’s new formula that “relies on adding/subtracting points won or lost for a game to/from the previous point totals rather than averaging game points over a given time period”.
Germany have been hit hard by this – the deposed world champions toppling from first to 15th after their group-stage exit at Russia 2018, while Lionel Messi and Argentina also drop out of the top 10 with a fall of six places to 11th.
Nigeria who lost two and won one of their games at the world cup dropped from 48 to 49 in the world but remained 7th in africa.
Croatia’s surprise run to the final made them the biggest movers – up 16 to fourth, while beaten semi-finalists England climb from 12th to sixth. Uruguay are into the top 10, but eight of those sides are European.
On top of the world
Now on top of the #FIFARanking
Congratulations @FrenchTeam pic.twitter.com/J2suyjl0zm
— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) August 16, 2018
FIFA world rankings:
1. France
2. Belgium
3. Brazil
4. Croatia
5. Uruguay
6. England
7. Portugal
8. Switzerland
9. Spain
10. Denmark
