Iran sink to a new low in latest FIFA Ranking

There are no changes in the top five of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking, with Argentina still leading the way ahead of Brazil, Italy, Spain and Germany. There is likely to be a thrilling tussle for the top spot in the next few weeks, however, with Brazil only ten points behind their great Argentinian rivals.

Greece (8th, up 2) are the only team to have made ground in the top ten, their victory over Portugal (9th, down 1) actually seeing them overtake the Portuguese. Incidentally, eighth place also represents the European champions' highest-ever position in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking. Another team currently sitting higher than ever before is Israel (20th, up 2), who are also in the top 20 for the first time.

Outside of the top 50, a number of teams from the CONCACAF zone and from Asia have made noteworthy progress on the back of victories in the race to qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup™. Gambia (83rd, up 19), Qatar (83rd, up 16), Barbados (116th, up 21), Grenada (142nd, up 15), Puerto Rico (149th, up 19), Montenegro (153rd, up 22), St. Lucia (168th, up 17) and the British Virgin Islands (173rd, up 20) are the teams that have taken the biggest strides. Gambia and Montenegro are another two teams who are currently in their best-ever position.

A total of 86 international 'A' matches have been played in the last four weeks. The 22 matches (12 in CONCACAF, 10 in AFC) in the preliminary competition for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ were of particular importance to the world ranking, whereas the other 64 matches were friendlies. The total number of international "A" matches played in 2008 currently stands at 228.

Ranking	Team	Pts Apr 08	+/- Ranking Mar 08		+/- Pts Mar 08
1	Argentina	1519	0		-37
2	Brazil	1509	0		-5
3	Italy	1391	0		-114
4	Spain	1319	0		-36
5	Germany	1261	0		-33
6	Czech Republic	1234	0		-19
7	France	1205	0		-29
8	Greece	1187	2		27
9	Portugal	1125	-1		-81
10	Netherlands	1124	-1		-55
11	England	1098	0		-44
12	Romania	1085	1		25
13	Croatia	1041	-1		-60
14	Ghana	1006	1		3
15	Scotland	1004	-1		-16
16	Mexico	997	0		7
17	Cameroon	996	0		29
18	Bulgaria	953	1		31
19	Colombia	911	1		2
20	Israel	898	2		4
21	USA	889	7		52
22	Côte d'Ivoire	868	1		-18
23	Turkey	860	-5		-64
24	Sweden	858	0		-27
25	Russia	851	-4		-55
26	Paraguay	844	0		0
27	Uruguay	840	2		11
28	Poland	839	-4		-46
28	Norway	839	-1		-4
30	Egypt	822	0		-3
31	Serbia	807	0		-8
32	Ukraine	763	0		-51
33	Denmark	762	0		-25
34	Northern Ireland	704	0		-59
35	Finland	700	0		-30
36	Japan	681	0		-21
37	Moldova	669	14		75
38	Honduras	668	5		43
39	Nigeria	659	7		41
40	Chile	653	-1		-5
41	Guinea	649	7		38
42	Republic of Ireland	637	-5		-53
43	Australia	634	-5		-32
44	Mali	629	1		8
45	Senegal	627	-1		5
46	Morocco	621	3		14
46	Switzerland	621	-6		-29
48	Belgium	620	-6		-15
48	Lithuania	620	7		49
50	Korea Republic	610	-3		-3

Ranking	Team	Pts Apr 08	+/- Ranking Mar 08		+/- Pts Mar 08
51	Iran	599	-10		-46
52	Wales	597	1		17
53	Tunisia	591	3		25
54	Saudi Arabia	576	-4		-20
55	Ecuador	569	-1		-6
56	Hungary	546	-5		-48
56	FYR Macedonia	546	3		-9
58	Cyprus	542	5		40
59	Venezuela	536	-2		-28
60	Uzbekistan	534	10		57