Thanks to Messi and Co's magic, Argentina go top of FIFA World Rankings for first time in 7 years
By Sunita Iyer | First Published Apr 6, 2023, 2:01 PM ISTArgentina, who won the World Cup 2022 in Qatar last December, have gone top of the FIFA World Rankings for the first time since 2016.
For the first time since 2016, Argentina has risen to the summit of the FIFA World Rankings. Thanks to Lionel Messi and Co.'s heroics, the South American giants moved up to the top spot after lifting the World Cup back in December, with runners-up France moving up to third.
Brazil fell from first to third, but the remaining top ten—Belgium, England, Netherlands, Croatia, Italy, Portugal, and Spain—remain unaltered.
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Aiming to qualify for the African Cup of Nations for the first time, Central African Republic experienced the biggest improvement, moving up 10 spots to 122nd position.
The squad with the largest drop was Cameroon, which dropped nine spots to 42nd.
With 1840.93 points, Argentina overtook Brazil (3rd, down 2) by virtue of friendly victories over Panama and Curaçao while their former opponents were suffering defeats to Morocco. After defeating the Netherlands and the Republic of Ireland in their first UEFA Euro 2024 qualifiers, France (ranked second, up 1) also surpassed the Brazilians with 1838.45 points.
The majority of this month's ranking movement has been attributed to continental contests. Algeria (34th, up 6) and Egypt (35th, up 4) benefited from victories in CAF Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, and Canada (47th, up 6) entered the top 50 after back-to-back Concacaf Nations League victories. Serbia (25th, up 4), Scotland (36th, up 6) and Romania (46th, up 6) made notable gains on the back of notable EURO victories.
The Central African Republic (122nd, up 10) made the biggest gains overall, enjoying a double-digit increase as a result of a string of victories that have put them in a strong position to advance to their first-ever AFCON.
But while Namibia (106th, up 7) experienced a stellar month, as did Malaysia (138th, up 7) and Gambia (120th, up 6), Cameroon (42nd, down 9) suffered the most significant decline after earning just one of a potential six points in a doubleheader against the Namibians.
On July 20, 2023, the next FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking will be released.
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