Join The Club
The updated FIFA World Rankings closed with world champions Argentina at the top of the pile immediately before the start of World Cup 2026.
Spain reached June 11 in second place ahead of France in third and England in fourth, with Portugal completing the top five and Brazil, Morocco, Netherlands, Belgium and Germany rounding out the top 10.
With the exception of Morocco, all of those teams finished their World Cup preparations with a win. Not all of them can say the same about their group stage fixture of the finals.
How FIFA's live World Rankings work
Argentina had moved up two places to claim top spot before the World Cup, in part because of the ranking methodology that was instituted in 2018.
According to FIFA: "[The new system] relies on adding/subtracting points won or lost for a game to/from the previous point totals rather than averaging game points over a given time period as in the previous version of the World Ranking.
Play our free match predictor and win £1k
"The points which are added or subtracted are partially determined by the relative strength of the two opponents, including the logical expectation that teams higher in the ranking should fare better against teams lower in the ranking."
The scoring formula that underpins the algorithm is effectively a complex weighting of degree of difficulty and level of competition, creating a score that's higher for a World Cup match against top opposition than a friendly against a lower-ranked nation.
A multiplier is applied to each match score depending on the result.
While the FIFA World Rankings are considered 'unofficial' in between full updates, the public nature of the calculation makes it possible to peruse live rankings on a match-by-match basis.
With a full matchday of the World Cup 2026 group stage in the books, the live rankings reveal that England have made ground on Spain and France have kept pace with Argentina.
England's win over Croatia boosted their cumulative tally by 19.66 points to 1847.68 according to the live rankings on June 18.
Spain have dropped to 1856.03 thanks to their draw with Cape Verde – a worse result than England in a game of similar stature against lower-ranked opponents – and a loss of more than 18 points, essentially halving the deficit and putting third place within England's immediate reach.
Meanwhile, Senegal being ranked higher than Algeria means that France gained more points than Argentina and are now less than two points away from top spot.
Will England surpass Spain by the end of the group stage? Have your say in the comments below...
