© EuroFootball.com
In the newly announced FIFA world national team rankings, the Lithuanian national team, compared to last month, dropped significantly. After losing in the European Championship qualifying matches to France and Ukraine with a score of 0-1, the Lithuanians dropped 13 positions and are now only in 89th place. a month ago our team was 76th, two months ago - 72nd.
These losses took away 69 ranking points from Lithuania.
The world champion Italy regained the leader position, defeating Scotland 2-0. The Italians surpassed the Argentinians, who did not play last month.
England dropped two positions in the top ten (from 6th to 8th) after a draw with Israel.
Unexpectedly defeating Sweden at home, Northern Ireland climbed 14 positions (from 47th to 33rd). This is the best place for Northern Ireland in the rankings since 1994. Meanwhile, Sweden dropped from 15th to 24th.
Ireland climbed 20 positions (from 51st to 31st), Turkey rose 10 places (from 27th to 17th), and Bosnia and Herzegovina surpassed 11 rivals (from 58th to 47th).
The biggest jump in a month was made by the Liechtenstein national team, rising a whopping 31 positions (from 162nd to 131st). This was due to their victory over Latvia, which was only the fourth success in the history of Liechtenstein football.
Latvia dropped from 98th place to 104th, while the Estonians, losing to Russia and Israel, fell from 106th to 110th.
Besides Italy, the other opponents of Lithuania in Group B of the European Championship qualifiers hold the following positions - France 4th, Ukraine 11th, Scotland 19th, Georgia 85th, Faroe Islands - 179th.
In the world, the biggest drop in a month was seen by Bangladesh - from 155th to 176th place.
FIFA world national team rankings for April 2007 (position, country, points, position in the previous ranking)
1. Italy 1604 (2) 2. Argentina 1594 (1) 3. Brazil 1520 (3) 4. France 1496 (4) 5. Germany 1393 (5) 6. Netherlands 1302 (7) 7. Portugal 1292 (8) 8. England 1278 (6) 9. Spain 1237 (10) 10. Czech Republic 1169 (9) 11. Ukraine 1021 (11) 12. Croatia 1011 (12) 13. Cameroon 968 (18) 14. Romania 929 (14) 15. Greece 905 (13) 16. Russia 901 (23) 17. Turkey 892 (27) 18. Mexico 888 (21) 19. Scotland 885 (16) 20. Switzerland 877 (17) ... 85. Georgia 374 (85) ... 89. Lithuania 356 (76) ... 104. Latvia 297 (98) ... 110. Estonia 247 (106) ... 179. Faroe Islands 32 (182)
