Fifa World Cup National team Rankings updates

James Deuce

GFX Moderator

ZURICH, Switzerland (AP) - France, England and the Czech Republic moved up in FIFA's monthly world soccer rankings with five-time World Cup champion Brazil staying top.

FIFA WORLD RANKING
Top 20 September 2006

Rank Country Points +/-
1 Brazil 1574 --
2 France 1534 +2
3 Argentina 1492 --
4 England 1477 +1
5 Italy 1474 -3
6 Netherlands 1327 --
7 Czech Rep. 1312 +3
8 Germany 1291 +1
9 Portugal 1272 -1
10 Spain 1255 -3
11 Nigeria 1166 --
12 Cameroon 1062 --
13 Ukraine 1029 +2
14 Switzerland 1016 -1
15 Uruguay 960 -1
16 Denmark 940 +1
17 Mexico 891 -1
18 Sweden 888 +2
19 Ivory Coast 879 -1
20 Colombia 867 +9

Ranking criteria

France moved to No. 2 from No. 4 after last week's 3-1 victory over world champion Italy in a qualifying game for the 2008 European Championship.

England edged up one place to No. 4 and the Czechs jumped to No. 7 from No. 10.

Italy and Spain were the big losers in the top 10.

Italy dropped three places to No. 5 and Spain, which was upset by Northern Ireland 3-2 in Euro 2008 qualifying, fell to No. 10 from No. 7.

There was movement throughout FIFA's rankings.

Colombia jumped nine places to No. 20, and European champion Greece moved up 10 places to 22nd. The United States was a big loser among teams in the top 30, slipping to No. 29 from 23.

The Ukraine jumped up two places to 13th with a 3-2 victory over lowly Georgia. After taking care of Iceland 2-0, Denmark moved up one spot to 16th.

Sweden's 3-1 win over Liechtenstein saw the country start the climb back up the top-twenty list, from 20th to 18th.

After a disappointing World Cup and more recent 0-0 draw with Russia, Croatia dropped further down the pecking order, falling from 21 to 24.


Source: Fox Sports