England rises to sixth in FIFA world rankings
England has confirmed their return to form, moving up one spot to sixth in the latest release of the FIFA world rankings.
Fabio Capello’s men endured a dismal time at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, but have gone some way to making up for that disappointment after seeing off the challenge of Hungary in a friendly match and defeating Bulgaria and Switzerland in UEFA
2012 European Football Championship qualifying matches.
Spain, the World and European champions, has retained the top spot, with Holland, Germany, Brazil and Argentina making up the remainder of the top five. The rest of the top ten places are taken up by Uruguay, Portugal, Egypt and Chile.
The Republic of Ireland has moved up three places to 33rd, while Northern Ireland is one of the biggest movers on the list after rising 14 places to 45th. Scotland has dropped six places to 47th while Wales has remained at 84th.
France, meanwhile, has dropped to their all-time lowest ranking of 27th after a horrendous World Cup and the loss of their first Euro 2012 qualifying match against Belarus prior to their victory over Bosnia.
Meanwhile, Ghana has broken into the top 20 of the rankings. The World Cup quarter-finalists have moved up three spots to stay the second best team in Africa behind Egypt, the continent’s champions. They are followed by Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Algeria and
Cameroon, all among Africa’s best national teams, according to the rankings.
South Africa has also risen in the rankings after moving up eight spots to 58. They have now broken into the top ten teams in Africa, behind Tunisia who are the ninth best team in the continent and 56th best globally.
The team who made the biggest move was Montenegro, jumping 33 positions to 40th. That feat is even more impressive, considering they were at the bottom of the rankings after joining FIFA just three years ago.
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