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PARIS. — Germany’s charge to claim Sunday’s World Cup soccer title has seen them return to the top of Fifa’s world rankings for the first time in around 20 years.
The latest list, published yesterday, has Germany moving up one place on the strength of their 1-0 defeat of Argentina at Rio de Janeiro’s Maracana.
Lionel Messi’s Argentina are placed second, an improvement of three places, with the Netherlands leaping 12 rungs into third after their impressive World Cup third place finish.
The James Rodriguez-inspired Colombia move up to fourth (+4), ahead of Belgium (+6) and Uruguay while disappointing Brazil dropped four spots to seventh.
Deposed world champions Spain slumped seven spots to their new modest placing of eighth, with Switzerland and France (+7) completing the top 10.
Costa Rica’s remarkable charge to the quarter-finals was rewarded with a jump of 12 places to 16th.
Hosts Brazil, hammered 7-1 by Germany in the World Cup semi-final in the shock of the tournament, drop four places to seventh.
England have fallen 10 places to 20th in the list, their lowest position since May 1996, after a dismal World Cup when defeat in their opening two group matches gave them their worst performance in over 50 years.
England’s woeful first round exit resulted in Roy Hodgson’s side dropping 10 places to 20th.
The drop of 10 places following a poor World Cup means they are behind Bosnia-Hercegovina, Costa Rica and the USA.
Spain have gone from top to eighth, with Germany leading the rankings for the first time in two decades.
Scotland remain 27th but Wales have dropped three places to 44th. Northern Ireland are up one to 89th, while Republic of Ireland stay 70th.
England were third in August 2012 but World Cup defeats by Italy and Uruguay and a draw against Costa Rica have seen their standing fall.
After failing to qualify for the 1994 World Cup and just prior to the 1996 European Championships, England were ranked 24th. Their lowest ever placing came in February 1996, when they were 27th.
World Cup finalists Argentina are second, while the Netherlands have climbed 12 places to third after their impressive run at the tournament.
Brazil drop four places to seventh, while Colombia, who lost to the host nation in the World Cup quarter-finals, rise to fourth.
Belgium and France benefited from reaching the World Cup quarter-finals, climbing to fifth and 10th respectively.
African champions, Nigeria have moved up 10 places in the latest rankings released by World Football governing body, Fifa yesterday.
The Super Eagles amassed 664 ranking points and are now ranked third in Africa and 34th in the world in the latest classification table.
Former Nigeria coach, Adegboyega Onigbinde described the rise of the Super Eagles in the monthly classifications as “good news.”
He said it was down to the Super Eagles’ performance at the 2014 Fifa World Cup finals in Brazil where the African champions reached the last 16.
“This is good news. I believe that we rose in the rankings because of our performances at the World Cup. The quality of friendly matches we played before the World Cup also helped as well,” Onigbinde told supersport.com.
He then noted that the development shows that Fifa is a “fair body” and puts to bed the controversy over the yardstick and criteria used to arrive at the rankings.
“Many people have always questioned the rationale behind the rankings but I believe it is now clear that Fifa is a fair body.
“Despite the imbroglio of the Fifa suspension of Nigeria from international football recently, we have risen in the rankings like we have never done in recent years.
“It is a clear indication that Fifa has a clear principle and system through which they arrive at the rankings,” he said.
Nigeria’s highest position in the Fifa rankings is fifth; a position they attained in 1994.
Criteria for arriving at a country’s placing/position on the monthly rankings is determined by the result(s) and number of matches placed by a particular country in the month under review.
The importance of the match, strength of the opposition and confederation strength weights are some of the other factors Fifa considers in arriving at a country’s eventual placing/position on the rankings.
Algeria, the Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Egypt and Ghana are the top five African countries in the latest Fifa rankings in descending order.
The top five countries, in ascending order in the world rankings are Belgium, Colombia, the Netherlands, Argentina and Germany.
Latest Fifa rankings
1. Germany (+1)
2. Argentina (+3)
3. Netherlands (+12)
4. Colombia (+4)
5. Belgium (+6)
6. Uruguay (+1)
7. Brazil (-4)
8. Spain (-7)
9. Switzerland (-3)
10. France (+7)
11. Portugal (-7)
12. Chile (+2)
13. Greece (-1)
14. Italy (-5)
15. USA (-2)
16. Costa Rica (+12)
17. Croatia (+1)
18. Mexico (+2)
19. Bosnia and Hercegovina (+2)
20. England (-10) — AFP.
Online Reporter