FIFA World Rankings, February 2009: The Top Ten Remains the Same

FIFA published their latest World Rankings on February 11th and the top ten remains entirely unchanged after a quiet January, in which none of the bigger nations were involved.

These rankings were released before last nights World Cup Qualifiers and friendly matches so the results of these games will count towards the next update of rankings in March.

Spain retained their No. 1  ranking ahead of Germany and the Netherlands. Romania and the USA move into the top twenty at the expense of Nigeria and Egypt who both dropped down.

Nicaragua is the biggest mover, up 50 places to 132 after finishing fifth in the UNCAF Nations Cup 2009 and qualifying for the Gold Cup.

Panama won this year's UNCAF Nations Cup for the first time and are rewarded with a ranking of 50th, the first time they have ever breached the top fifty, a jump of 33 places.

Defeated finalists Costa Rica are also one of the highest climbers, up nine places to 38th.

FIFA World Rankings, Top 20, February 2009

(movements from January rankings in parenthesis)

1.  Spain  (-)     

2.  Germany  (-)

3.  Netherlands  (-)

4.  Italy  (-)

5.  Brazil  (-)

6.  Argentina  (-)

7.  Croatia  (-)

8.  England  (-)

9.  Russia  (-)

10. Turkey  (-)

11. France  (-)

12. Portugal (-1)

12. Czech Republic  (-1)

14. Ukraine  (+2)

15. Paraguay  (+3)

16. Cameroon  (-2)

17. Romania  (+4)

18. Israel  (+1)

19. Greece  (+1)

20. USA  (+2)