Argentina and Lionel Messi might have suffered heartbreak in the Copa America Centenario final against Chile, but they have managed to clinch the top spot in the latest FIFA rankings. Belgium had an average Euro 2016, getting knocked out in the quarter-final, but they still held on to the second spot ahead of Colombia and Germany who are 3rd and 4th respectively.
Although Chile won the Copa America for the second year running, they still remained only in 5th spot ahead of Portugal, who climbed 2 places thanks to their Euro 2016 triumph. The biggest gainers this month were France and Wales who rose 10 and 15 positions respectively. France are currently ranked 7th while Wales are just below Italy at 11th.
Spain were knocked out by Italy in the round of 16 and that took a toll on their rankings as they dropped down two places to eighth position. Brazil and Italy round off the top 10 positions. England dropped down to 13th while Croatia rose 12 positions to take the 15th spot.
India gained 11 positions and they are currently ranked 152 in the world. The Blue tigers will be hoping for some good performances in the coming months to improve their rankings. The feel good story of the Euros, Iceland also rose 12 positions thanks to their superlative performance in the Euros and they are now ranked at 22 in the world.
Both the major international tournaments, Copa America Centenario and Euro 2016 were filled with surprises which has led to some huge jumps and falls in the rankings. Spain and Brazil are in real danger of dropping out of the top 10 while teams like Wales, Mexico and Croatia are pushing hard and have shown great improvement in their recent rankings.
The highest ranked African team is Algeria while Iran is the highest ranked Asian side. Although the rankings give an accurate assessment of the strength of the teams, some people might argue that teams like Chile deserve to be ranked higher for their superlative performances in the last two Copa Americas.
Here are the top 15 football teams in the world according to the latest FIFA rankings:
1. Argentina
2. Belgium
3. Colombia
4. Germany
5. Chile
6. Portugal
7. France
8. Spain
9. Brazil
10. Italy
11. Wales
12. Uruguay
13. England
14. Mexico
15. Croatia
