BERLIN, Sept 18 (Bernama-dpa) — European champions Spain moved into first place of the men’s world football rankings for the first time in 11 years while Germany dropped out of the top 10 in the latest list published on Thursday by the governing body FIFA, German Press Agency (dpa) reported.
Spain and France in second place moved ahead of the previous leaders, world champions Argentina, in the national team rankings. Spain had not been top since June 2014.
Germany meanwhile dropped from ninth to 12th as their World Cup qualifying defeat in Slovakia two weeks ago proved costly, with Croatia, Italy, and Morocco all surging ahead of them.
Croatia are now ninth which will be the last spot to be placed in pot 1 for the December 5 World Cup draw in Washington. The 12-team pot will consist of the top nine teams from the November rankings and the three co-hosts United States, Mexico, and Canada.
Slovakia, who also beat Luxembourg in their other qualifier, were the biggest climbers, gaining 10 places to 42nd. Zimbabwe lost the most places, down nine to 125th.
The other top 10 teams are England, Portugal, Brazil, the Netherlands, and Belgium.
— BERNAMA-dpa