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FIFA released the latest World rankings and 2022 World Cup champions Argentina remained on top after a great start to their World Cup qualifying campaign, while India dropped to 102 after a poor show at the 2023 Kings Cup.
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Argentina beat Ecuador 1-0 and Bolivia 3-0 in the opening CONMEBOL FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifiers. Second‑place France lost some ground on the Albiceleste after suffering a 2-1 friendly defeat at the hands of Germany. The top ten remained largely unchanged, with only Portugal moving up one place after their 9-0 win over Luxembourg. Italy (9th) slips down a spot after being held to a 1-1 draw away to North Macedonia in the sides’ UEFA EURO 2024 qualifier.
Brazil (3rd), England (4th), Belgium (5th), Croatia (6th), the Netherlands (7th), Portugal (8th), Italy (9th), and Spain (10th) make up the top 10. In the lower part of the rankings, Austria (25th) and Hungary (32nd) both climbed four places, while Mali (49th) and Côte d’Ivoire (50th) moved up two spots apiece to reclaim their positions amongst the top 50.
The biggest losers in the most recent ranking update are Northern Ireland (74th, down 10) due to a poor performance in the most recent Euro qualifiers, a 4-2 loss to Slovenia, and a 1-0 victory over Kazakhstan. Belarus (105th) dropped seven positions to leave the top 100, while Trinidad and Tobago (98th, up 4), Mauritania (99th, up 2), and Kazakhstan (100th, up 4) moved the other way to reclaim their top-100 rankings.
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India moved to 102nd place after a fourth-place finish at the King's Cup as they lost to Lebanon 1-0 in the third-place playoff. The Blue Tigers had previously lost to Iraq 5-4 in a penalty shootout after the semi-final match ended at 2-2 after regulation time. Their next major assignment will be the World Cup qualifiers against Kuwait and Qatar in November.
