Belgium and Brazil climb third and fifth (FIFA.com) 09 Apr 2015

There have been some notable changes in the April edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking. Belgium (3rd, up 1) have achieved their highest-ever position following two wins in UEFA EURO 2016 qualifying, and now trail only Germany and Argentina.

Meanwhile Brazil (5th, up 1) and the Netherlands (6th, down 1) have traded places. The Brazilians defeated France (11th, down 3) 3-1, while the Netherlands had to settle for a draw against Turkey (52nd, up 4) in their EURO qualifier.

Switzerland (9th, up 3) and Spain (10th, up 1) have re-entered the top ten at the expense of France and Italy (13th, down 3) respectively.

In addition to the above movers, the following teams have risen more than ten places since March: Wales (22nd, up 15), Belarus (83rd, up 15), Iraq (86th, up 11), Azerbaijan (115th, up 24), Syria (126th, up 26), Bermuda (129th, up 40), India (147th, up 26), Curaçao (148th, up 11), Timor-Leste (152nd, up 33), Nicaragua (154th, up 31), Guyana (155th, up 11), Gambia (156th, up 12), Bhutan (163rd, up 46), the US Virgin Islands (173rd, up 24), Brunei Darussalam (183rd, up 15) and the Cayman Islands (191st, up 14). Most of these teams were victorious in one or more recent qualifiers, such as Bhutan, who beat Sri Lanka twice in the Asian preliminaries for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ and are now positioned 163rd.

In addition to Belgium and Bhutan, Wales, the Faroe Islands (102nd, up 3) and Timor-Leste have all achieved their highest-ever position since the ranking was introduced in 1993.

A total of 135 ‘A’ international were taken into account for the latest edition of the global ladder, taking the total number of games evaluated so far this year to 217. Of the new matches, 25 were qualifiers for EURO 2016, 26 were 2018 World Cup qualifiers (CONCACAF, AFC) and 84 were friendlies.

The next FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking will be published on 7 May 2015.

Summary

Leader	Germany (unchanged)
Moves into top ten	Switzerland (9th, up 3) Spain (10th, up 1)
Moves out of top ten	France (11th, down 3) Italy (13th, down 3)
Matches played in total	135
Most matches played	British Virgin Islands, Dominica (3 matches each)
Biggest move by points	Wales (up 153 points)
Biggest move by ranks	Bhutan (up 46 ranks)
Biggest drop by points	Israel (down 231 points)
Biggest drop by ranks	New Caledonia (down 23 ranks)