Spain regain top amid significant movement

 

After just one month, the Netherlands (2nd, down 1) had to relinquish first place to Spain (1st, up 1) on the September edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking.

With England having taken a tumble (8th, down 4), Germany (3rd, unchanged) now sit directly aboveUruguay (4th, up 1), who occupy their highest-ever position on the global ladder. Other movers towards the summit were Portugal (5th, up 3), Italy (6th, up 1) and Brazil (7th, down 1).

Elsewhere in the top 50, Switzerland (18th, up 12), Bosnia-Herzegovina (22nd, up 17), Hungary (27th, up 18) and Armenia (44th, up 27) all made good progress.

Outside the top 50, meanwhile, no fewer than six teams leaped more than 20 places: Estonia (58th, up 28), Sierra Leone (68th, up 24), Wales (90th, up 27), Togo (95th, up 26), Namibia (119th, up 24) and Nicaragua (155th, up 24). In addition, Papua New Guinea re-entered the Ranking in 187th place.

By and large, the highest climbers of the month won one or more of their FIFA World Cup™ or continental qualifying matches. As a result of the major shake-up, several teams are now in their best-ever positions since introduction of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking, namely Uruguay (4th, up 1), Bosnia-Herzegovina (22nd, up 17), Hungary (27th, up 18), Armenia (44th, up 27), Estonia (58th, up 28) and Belize (133rd, up 15).  

The high level of movement in this latest edition is the result of 170 'A' international matches, of which 109 were FIFA World Cup or continental qualifiers and 61 were friendlies.