FIFA
ranked Euro 2008 champion Spain No. 1, with 2007 World Cup Winner Italy #2,.
Also Italy was the only team to hold Spain to a 0-0 score, to lose on PKs. Germany was #3, Brazil #4, Netherlands #5, Argentina
#6, Croatia, Czech Republic, Portugal and France - round out the top 10.
Russia, which made a surprising run to the semifinals of Euro 2008, made the
biggest move in the top 50 by going from 24th to 11th. Cameroon
remained the highest ranked African nation at 13th. Turkey, the other Euro
semifinalist, jumped six spots from 20th to 14th.
Spain Takes Over Top Spot in
FIFA Rankings
Nyon, Switzerland (Sports Network) - The
FIFA/Coca-Cola Men's World Rankings for the month of July were
released on Wednesday, and Euro 2008 champion Spain moved up three spots to No.
1.
Spain is just the sixth team ever ranked No. 1 by FIFA,
joining Brazil, France, Germany,
Italy and Argentina.
Italy, which lost to Spain in the quarterfinals of Euros
in penalties, moved up from third to second. Euro runner-up Germany jumped
two spots to third. The Netherlands,
which beat Italy, France and Romania at Euros, moved up five
spots to fifth to put four Euro quarterfinalists in the top five.
Brazil, which was second in the last rankings,
dropped to fourth and Argentina
slipped from first to sixth. Argentina
had been ranked No. 1 since October of last year.
Four
other European countries that participated in the Euro finals - Croatia, Czech
Republic, Portugal
and France
- round out the top 10.
Russia, which made a surprising
run to the semifinals of Euro 2008, made the biggest move in the top 50 by
going from 24th to 11th. Turkey,
the other Euro semifinalist, jumped six spots from 20th to 14th.
Cameroon remained the highest ranked African nation
at 13th and Mexico
remained the highest ranked CONCACAF team at 19th, despite slipping five spots.
Japan
is still the highest ranked Asian nation and moved up five spots to 34th.
Euro 2004
champion Greece,
which failed to win a game at Euro 2008, made the second biggest drop among the
top 50 by slipping 10 spots to 18th. Honduras was the worst by falling
11 spots to 48th.
England joined Greece as one of two nations to
fall out of the top 10. England
slipped six places to 15th.
The United States
also took a big drop, slipping nine spaces to 30th. The U.S. lost to England
and Spain in the last month,
but also tied Argentina.
Iran made the second largest
jump among the top 50 by moving 11 spots to 37th.
The biggest
movers this month were Africa's Suriname
(87th, up 58) and Burkina
Faso (64th, up 47). Both of these teams
played at least two 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers in recent weeks.
The next
FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking will be published on Aug. 6, 2008.