The outcomes from the September worldwide break led to Argentina dropping from the No. 1 place within the FIFA rankings after greater than two years. Spain now sit on the summit — a shift that would have main implications within the close to future.
Spain climbed to No. 1 largely due to their latest successes. They’re the reigning Euro 2024 champions and 2025 UEFA Nations League finalists, they usually presently lead their World Cup qualifying group with ease. These achievements have performed a crucial function of their rise by the rankings, as official matches carry additional weight in FIFA’s level system.
For Argentina, then again, a couple of losses in South American World Cup qualifying finally proved pricey, inflicting them to fall two spots. And issues might worsen within the coming months, as they’re scheduled to play pleasant matches — which carry considerably much less worth within the rankings.
With FIFA releasing the brand new rankings this week, Spain have been formally confirmed as No. 1 for the primary time in 11 years. The final time they held that spot was in June 2014, once they have been nonetheless using excessive from their triumphs on the 2010 World Cup and the 2008 and 2012 European Championships.
Lamine Yamal speaks with Luis de la Fuente, Head Coach of Spain.
Credit score goes largely to move coach Luis De La Fuente for Spain’s resurgence. He took over in December 2022 following the frustration on the World Cup in Qatar, the place Spain have been eradicated within the spherical of 16 by Morocco. At the moment, they have been ranked tenth. Since then, the outcomes have been excellent — with a streak of 27 official matches with out defeat.
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The up to date FIFA rankings
The worldwide break outcomes introduced important adjustments to the FIFA rankings. Spain weren’t the one workforce to climb — France additionally moved up one spot to second, pushing Argentina down to 3rd.
One other top-10 shake-up got here from Portugal, who jumped from sixth to fifth, shifting forward of Brazil. In the meantime, Germany fell from ninth to twelfth, permitting Croatia, Italy, and Morocco to climb.
The present FIFA rankings are:
- Spain
- France
- Argentina
- England
- Portugal
- Brazil
- Netherlands
- Belgium
- Croatia
- Italy
Why the FIFA rankings matter
For years, the FIFA rankings carried principally symbolic significance, giving prime nationwide groups bragging rights with out providing any concrete advantages. However that’s now not the case.
Below the present system, FIFA rankings play a decisive function in main tournaments, as seedings within the attracts are based mostly on these rankings. That offers higher-ranked groups a big edge by serving to them keep away from early matchups in opposition to equally sturdy opponents.
With lower than a 12 months to go till the FIFA World Cup 2026 — and fewer than three months till the draw takes place in Washington, D.C., on December 5 — nationwide groups from each continent will probably be seeking to climb as excessive as attainable within the rankings to spice up their possibilities of touchdown in favorable teams.
