World Cup 2022: FIFA Rankings for All Teams Heading Into Tournament

The majority of the top-ranked men's soccer teams in the world converge on Qatar for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Brazil enters the tournament as the No. 1 team in the FIFA World Rankings. Belgium, Argentina, France and England fill out the top five, respectively.

Not all of the top teams in the FIFA World Rankings landed a spot in the 32-team field because of how difficult it is to qualify out of Europe and South America.

Italy is the lone top-10 team not headed to Qatar, and a handful of other squads inside the top 25 will be watching from home.

There are six teams in the World Cup field that are ranked outside of the top 40, including host nation Qatar (50). While it's likely those countries will struggle in the group stage, there is always a chance one of them springs an upset or two.

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FIFA World Rankings of World Cup Teams

Group A

Netherlands (8)

Senegal (18)

Ecuador (44)

Qatar (50)

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Group B

England (5)

United States (16)

Wales (19)

Iran (20)

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Group C

Argentina (3)

Mexico (13)

Poland (26)

Saudi Arabia (51)

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Group D

France (4)

Denmark (10)

Tunisia (30)

Australia (38)

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Group E

Spain (7)

Germany (11)

Japan (24)

Costa Rica (31)

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Group F

Belgium (2)

Croatia (12)

Morocco (22)

Canada (41)

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Group G

Brazil (1)

Switzerland (15)

Serbia (21)

Cameroon (43)

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Group H

Portugal (9)

Uruguay (14)

South Korea (28)

Ghana (61)

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Brazil rose to the top spot in the FIFA Men's World Rankings behind a dominant World Cup qualifying campaign in South America.

Neymar and Co. cruised to first place in CONMEBOL with 45 points from 17 games. Argentina was the closest team to Brazil with 39 points while Uruguay was third with 29.

Brazil extended its strong run of form into its World Cup warmup games. It won four friendly matches by a combined score of 14-2. All of those contests came against World Cup qualifiers.

Belgium enters Qatar as the highest-ranked European side at No. 2. The Red Devils were semifinalists four years ago in Russia, and they controlled one of the tougher European qualification groups with Wales and the Czech Republic.

Belgium's last six matches before the World Cup came in the UEFA Nations League. It had three wins, one draw and two losses, with both defeats coming against the Netherlands.

The rest of the usual world powers of men's soccer fill out the rankings beneath Brazil and Belgium.

Spain, France, Germany, Argentina, England, Netherlands and Denmark have all been fixtures on the world stage for a long time. Italy is the only top-10 power that will miss out on the tournament. The Azzurri finished second to Switzerland in group play and then lost in the playoff round to North Macedonia. Portugal then beat North Macedonia to get to the World Cup.

The United States men's national team comes into Qatar with the No. 16 world ranking. The team's stock dropped a bit in September after disappointing performances against Japan and Saudi Arabia.

The USMNT is the second-best North American team in the rankings behind Mexico. Both teams have tough challenges in the group stage against England and Argentina.

Canada is one of six teams outside the top 40 in the World Rankings taking part in the World Cup. Two of those teams find themselves in Group A.

On paper, Group A featuring the Netherlands, Ecuador, Senegal and Qatar is the weakest, while Group B, the USMNT's group, appears to be the toughest with four top 20 teams.