© EuroFootball.com
On Wednesday, November 10th, the International Football Association Federation (FIFA) announced a new world national teams ranking, in which the Lithuanian national team climbed 8 positions closer to the top 100.
After a successful start to the World Cup qualification cycle, Lithuania added 18 points to their account and rose from 111th to 103rd place, between El Salvador and Congo. Compared to December of last year, Lithuanians were two positions higher.
Not much has changed in the ranking of Lithuania's opponents in Group 7 of the World Cup qualification: Spain maintained fourth place, Belgium dropped from 35th to 38th, Serbia and Montenegro moved up one spot to 54th, Bosnia and Herzegovina climbed from 81st to 79th, and San Marino, now sharing 166th place with Dominica and Laos.
Our neighbor Latvia continues to fall in the rankings, dropping four positions to 67th, while Estonia slightly improved its position to 76th.
The top four teams remain unchanged - Brazil is at the top, followed by France, Argentina, and Spain. The only changes were between Czech Republic and Netherlands (5th and 6th) and Mexico and Italy (8th and 10th).
The biggest jump in the rankings was made by Australia, the winner of the Oceanian Cup (49th place, up by 15), as well as Ukraine (67th place, up by 13) and Liechtenstein (140th place, up by 11).
The next FIFA ranking will be announced on December 20th.
FIFA national teams ranking: (position, country, points, previous position)
1. Brazil 847 (1) 2. France 802 (2) 3. Argentina 784 (3) 4. Spain 775 (4) 5. Czech Republic 768 (6) 6. Netherlands 758 (5) 7. England 752 (7) 8. Mexico 743 (10) 8. Portugal 743 (8) 10. Italy 736 (8) 11. USA 728 (11) 12. Turkey 721 (12) 13. Denmark 715 (15) 14. Ireland 713 (14) 15. Sweden 710 (22) 16. Germany 706 (13) 17. Greece 703 (16) 17. Japan 703 (19) 19. Uruguay 699 (17) 20. Iran 694 (20) ... 38. Belgium 624 (35) ... 54. Serbia and Montenegro 577 (55) ... 67. Latvia 551 (63) ... 76. Estonia 533 (77) ... 79. Bosnia and Herzegovina 531 (81) ... 103. Lithuania 449 (111) ... 166. San Marino 216 (167)
