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The recent rounds of World Cup Qualifying, consisting of almost 150 games around the globe, have been inputted into the FIFA mainframe and the latest update for their world rankings has been spat back out. Or they just make them up as they go along…
Either way Brazil remains on top, for the fourth consecutive month, but their lead has been trimmed again by Spain.
A Seleção drew one and lost one of their final two qualifiers as Dunga tinkered with his lineup with qualification already assured. European Champions Spain kept the pressure on after setting a European record in World Cup Qualifying by becoming the first side to win 10 games out of 10 in a campaign.
Elsewhere, Germany slip down one place to fifth after a disappointing home draw with Finland, again achieved with their place in South Africa already booked.
Diego Maradona’s Argentina turned their form around to win their final two qualifiers against Peru and Uruguay and have risen two places to sixth, leapfrogging Fabio Capello’s England in seventh.
Portugal return to the Top 10, climbing seven positions, after finally getting their campaign back on track with back-to-back wins to secure a playoff place.
Russia fall six places to twelfth after an unfortunate home defeat to Germany and a poor away draw against lowly Azerbaijan.
The Indomitable Lions of Cameroon storm back into the Top 20, and are not the highest ranked African team. Ivory Coast are also present in the Top 20.
Thirteen of the Top 20 have already booked their places at the World Cup next summer, while five others face playoffs next month. Only Croatia and Czech Republic have failed to qualify.
Outside of the Top 20 the big movers of note are Algeria (up 15 to 29) and Colombia (up 18 to 30).
Slovakia have risen twelve places to 33rd place after successfully qualifying for the World Cup for the first time in their history.
New Zealand have also made good progress, improving by seventeen places to now occupy 83rd position.
The big fallers are Denmark (down 11 to 27) who rounded off an otherwise highly successful campaign with a home defeat against Hungary. Australia and Bulgaria also drop out of the top twenty.
Poland fall an incredible 20 places to 56th after a miserable campaign saw them finish with back-to-back defeats.
Scotland (down 16 to 46) and Wales (down 11 to 78) also tumble, but the news is better for the other home nations with Northern Ireland (up one to 30) and Republic of Ireland (up four to 34) both rising.
FIFA World Rankings, Top 20, October 2009
(movements from September rankings in parenthesis)
1. Brazil (-)
2. Spain (-)
3. Netherlands (-)
4. Italy (-)
5. Germany (-1)
6. Argentina (+2)
7. England (-)
8. Croatia (+1)
9. France (+1)
10. Portugal (+7)
11. USA (-)
12. Russia (-6)
13. Switzerland (+2)
14. Cameroon (+15)
15. Czech Republic (+3)
16. Greece (-4)
17. Chile (+4)
18. Mexico (+6)
19. Côte d'Ivoire (+1)
20. Serbia (-7)
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