© EuroFootball.com
In the published FIFA World Ranking for the month of July, there were many changes - using a new method, the Lithuanian national team jumped from 93rd place to 69th place, while Brazil remained the leader of the ranking, with all other positions in the top ten changing. According to the new calculation compared to the ranking announced in May, Lithuania lost 23 ranking points, but with a total of 458 points, they jumped 24 positions and overtook their neighbors Latvia and Estonia, who dropped 12 and 6 places respectively to occupy the 82nd and 83rd positions. Scotland, occupying 41st place, still outranks Lithuania in the qualifiers of the 2008 European Championship, while Georgia in 87th place and the Faroe Islands in 169th positions trail behind. Brazil maintained its leadership position, but World Champion Italy rose to second place from 13th place, Argentina climbed six spots to third, France landed in fourth place, and the newcomer Germany joined the top ten, rising from 19th place to 9th. The most significant improvements in the ranking were achieved by the successful teams in the World Cup, Ukraine (up over 30 places), Switzerland (up 22 places), and Ghana (up 23 places). Africa already has three representatives in the top twenty - Cameroon, Nigeria, and Ivory Coast, while North American and Asian teams that performed poorly in the tournament, such as Mexico, the USA, Iran, Japan, and South Korea, lost their high positions. The main change [link="http://www.fifa.com/en/mens/statistics/rank/procedures/0,2540,3,00.html"]in the ranking[/link] is that now the results of the last four years are taken into account instead of eight, and the importance of older years is reduced - for example, matches from the last few years are five times more important than those played four years ago. The significance of matches in the World Cup has also doubled, with the regional level assessed based on performance in the last three tournaments, and no points are awarded for scoring goals or playing away matches. FIFA World Rankings for National Teams: (Position, previous position in the ranking, country, points, change in position, change in points) 1.(1) Brazil 1630 0 803 2.(13) Italy 1550 +11 +822 3.(9) Argentina 1472 66 +726 4.(8) France 1462 64 +713 5.(10) England 1434 +5 +693 6.(3) Netherlands 1322 -3 +554 7.(5) Spain 1309 -2 +553 8.(7) Portugal 1301 -1 +551 9.(19) Germany 1299 +10 +533 10.(2) Czech Republic 1233 -8 +451 11.(11) Nigeria 1149 +0 +413 12.(15) Cameroon 1109 +3 +387 13.(35) Switzerland 1028 +22 +380 14.(22) Uruguay 985 +8 +296 15.(45) Ukraine 961 +30 +352 16.(5) USA 933 -11 +177 17.(11) Denmark 927 -6 +191 18.(4) Mexico 924 -14 +166 19.(33) Paraguay 915 +14 +262 20.(32) Ivory Coast 909 +12 +240 ... 41.(59) Scotland 677 +18 +101 ... 69.(93) Lithuania 458 +24 -23 ... 82.(70) Latvia 386 -12 -155 83.(77) Estonia 382 -5 -148 ... 87.(101) Georgia 359 +14 -100 ... 169.(139) Faroe Islands 54 -30 -259
