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Russia’s national football team finishes 2019 in 38th place of FIFA World Ranking

The next edition of FIFA’s World Ranking list is due to be published on February 20, 2020

Players of the Russian national football team Mikhail Dzhaparidze/TASS

Players of the Russian national football team

© Mikhail Dzhaparidze/TASS

MOSCOW, December 19. /TASS/. The Russian national football team finished this year in 38th place of national teams with 1,470 points, according to the new FIFA World Ranking list published on Thursday.

This year the national team played 10 international fixtures and they were all qualifiers for the 2020 UEFA Euro Cup - in March, Russia lost to Belgium 1-3 and defeated Kazakhstan 4-0; in June, Russia beat San Marino and Cyprus (9-0 and 1-0 respectively); in September, the team routed Scotland (2-1) and Kazakhstan (1-0); in October the Russian footballers blanked Scotland 4-0 and then blazed past Cyprus 5-0.

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Playing two international fixtures last month, the Russian team lost to Belgium 1-4 at home and then enjoyed a confident 5-0 away win over San Marino.

The national team of Belgium finished the year in the top of the new FIFA World Ranking with 1,765 points and they are followed by Reigning World Champions France (1,733 points) in 2nd place and Brazil with 1,712 points in 3rd place.

"Belgium are the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking’s Team of the Year for the second successive time after a record-breaking year for the global ladder," FIFA said in a statement.

"The Red Devils have held on to top spot in a December table barely impacted by just 19 friendlies towards the end of a year in which 1,082 international "A" matches have been played - an all-time high since the ranking’s 1993 inception," the statement reads.

The rest of the Top-10 after the current podium of Belgium, France and Brazil are: 4th England (1,661 points); 5th Uruguay (1,645 points); 6th Croatia (1,642); 7th Portugal (1,639); 8th Spain (1,636); 9th Argentina (1,623) and 10th Colombia (1,622).

The next edition of FIFA’s World Ranking list is due to be published on February 20, 2020.

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