FIFA World Rankings: Updated Standings Following Latest International Action

Germany remain at the summit of FIFA's World Rankings after Thursday's Sept. 18 update, which sees Colombia, Brazil and France move into stronger positions of power inside the top 10.

England and Italy are also among those to have risen after the first round of qualifiers for the 2016 European Championships in Paris.

Here's a look at the updated rankings, followed by the biggest movers and shakers from across the entire spectrum:

Rank	Nation	Points	Position Change
1.	Germany	1765	-
2.	Argentina	1631	-
3.	Colombia	1488	+1
4.	Netherlands	1456	-1
5.	Belgium	1444	-
6.	Brazil	1291	+1
7.	Uruguay	1243	-1
8.	Spain	1228	-1
9.	France	1202	+1
10.	Switzerland	1175	-1
11.	Portugal	1150	-
12.	Chile	1100	-
13.	Italy	1068	+1
14.	Greece	1052	-1
15.	Costa Rica	988	-
16.	Mexico	963	+1
17.	USA	936	+1
18.	England	935	+2
19.	Croatia	928	-3
20.	Algeria	926	+4
21.	Ecuador	889	-
22.	Cote d'Ivoire	879	+3
23.	Russia	875	-
24.	Ukraine	855	-2
25.	Bosnia and Herzegovina	851	-6

Points are currently deduced through the following formula: Result x Importance of Match x Strength of Opposition x Confederation Strength = Total Points. 

FIFA recently introduced fresh weighting for all confederations after the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Points awarded are currently multiplied on the following difficulty scale: CONMEBOL 1.00; UEFA 0.99; AFC, CAF, OFC and CONCACAF 0.85, per the governing body's official website. Be sure to check out the details of this points system right here.

All points are awarded on a "World Cup cycle," the four-year period between tournaments, per FIFA's fact sheet. The governing body provided further detail surrounding the latest update on its official website:

"

Of the 141 international “A” matches taken into account for this month’s ranking, over half of them (80) were continental qualifiers in Europe, Africa and CONCACAF, the other 61 fixtures being friendlies. This takes the total number of international “A” matches played in 2014 so far to 526.

"

Petr David Josek/Associated Press

Changes have begun to affect the leading nations after a return to competitive internationals for Europe. Last month's rankings remained largely inactive due to the post-World Cup break, but significant movement is now visible among the elite.

Colombia have leapfrogged the Netherlands into third place, sitting below Germany and Argentina. Although Los Cafeteros lost their only match since the last update—a 1-0 friendly defeat to Dunga's new look Brazil side—the Dutch friendly loss to Italy and 2-1 qualifying failure against the Czech Republic sees the Oranje slip.

Brazil have gained a place and currently sit in sixth, below a Belgian team that continues to bubble nicely. France's raid on the top 10 continues ahead of their tournament in two years' time, with Didier Deschamps' men moving up one place to ninth.

Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

Elsewhere, Italy and England fans will be pleased to see a little progress from their underwhelming sides. The Azzurri's aforementioned victory over the Netherlands was followed by a 2-0 qualifying win over Norway, moving Italy up one to 13th.

England also defeated Norway, albeit in friendly competition, and performed confidently to overcome Switzerland 2-0 during their first qualifier. The Three Lions put on a composed display throughout the continental visit and are rewarded with a two-place jump into 18th.

The home nations enjoyed an overall improvement during the recent update, per BBC Sport:

James Masters of The Times was a little surprised to see England sit above USA, given their respective efforts at the World Cup:

Algeria's fine World Cup showing continues to be built upon. The Desert Foxes have produced the biggest climb of any team inside the top 25 by beating Ethiopia and Mali during the African Cup of Nations qualification process. Christian Gourcuff's winning start to life as Fennecs boss sees his squad progress four places into 20th.

Martin Meissner/Associated Press

As ever, plenty of positions have been switched further down the rankings. This month's most impressive jump is made by a little fancied North American side who posted three wins across the last month, as noted by FIFA and in the table below:

Rank	Nation	Points	Position Change
57.	Guatemala	534 (up 331)	+77
66.	Venezuela	476 (down 248)	-37
72.	El Salvador	431 (up 207)	+55
80.	Antigua and Barbuda	411 (up 255)	+69
125.	Togo	245 (down 119)	-38

Rankings enthusiasts can expect to see the next update on Oct. 23, 2014. This will arrive after another round of competitive fixtures and promises to deliver further changes across the board. For teams such as England and Italy, the quest for redemption can continue with further improvement in October.

Germany's lead continues to look unattainable, even at a time of transition for Joachim Low's side. Winnable fixtures away to neighbours Poland and home to the Republic of Ireland await before the next update, indicating the Mannschaft are likely to keep hold of the No. 1 spot for the considerable future.