England have been rated as four times better than Germany in the latest set of the incredibly important FIFA World Rankings, with the Three Lions coming in in fourth place while their old rivals are ranked down in 16th.
Of course, if we’re going down that line of logic, then England are only half as good as France (2nd) and now 33% worse than Belgium (3rd), so let’s abandon that in favour of simply listing things off like a reasonable person.
Argentina remain smugly perched at the top of the tree like a blue and white cuckoo, with France coming in marginally behind them. Which makes sense, when you consider that Argentina beat France in the last World Cup final.
FIFA World Rankings top 20
Argentina
France
Belgium
England
Brazil
Portugal
Netherlands
Spain
Italy
Croatia
United States
Colombia
Morocco
Mexico
Uruguay
Germany
Senegal
Japan
Switzerland
Iran
Argentina top FIFA World Rankings with England fouth
Argentina are the best team in the world, according to FIFA (and, you know, the World Cup) (Image credit: Getty Images)
Belgium have overtaken England into third, with Brazil remaining fifth. Portugal and the Netherlands have swapped places with Roberto Martinez’s side now ranked sixth, while Spain, Italy and Croatia remain where they are to round out the top ten.
The United States and Colombia have each climbed two places, while Uruguay have dropped four spots to 15th behind Morocco and Mexico.
Scotland have suffered a fairly deep drop, down five places to 39th. Wales are ranked ten places higher (that’s 29th, if you’re no good at maths or simply unbearably lazy), despite the Scots having booked their passage to the Euros while Rob Page’s side missed out.
The Republic of Ireland are up two places to 60th, between those great titans of the game, South Africa and Finland, while Northern Ireland have somehow risen one place to 73rd. That dead-rubber victory over Denmark in November is doing a lot of heavy lifting there, we suspect.
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The biggest risers are Afghanistan, who have leapt up to the dizzying heights of 151st, while poor old Vietnam have suffered the biggest drop, down to lowly, lowly 115th.
We’ll now have to wait with bated breath to find out who will be top of the rankings come June 20.
Steven Chicken has been working as a football writer since 2009, taking in stints with Football365 and the Huddersfield Examiner. Steven still covers Huddersfield Town home and away for his own publication, WeAreTerriers.com. Steven is a two-time nominee for Regional Journalist of the Year at the prestigious British Sports Journalism Awards, making the shortlist in 2020 and 2023.
