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Russia’s national football team up to 38th place in new FIFA World Rankings

The list is still topped by Argentina, which is followed by France in 2nd place and England in 3rd place

MOSCOW, November 30. /TASS/. The Russian national football team climbed up one place in the FIFA World Ranking, according to the list published by the world’s governing body of football on Thursday.

Russia is now ranked 38th with 1498,84 points. Earlier in the month the national team played a friendly match at home against Cuba in the city of Volgograd defeating guests 8-0.

The FIFA World Ranking is still topped by Argentina, which is followed by France in 2nd place and England in 3rd place.

"Although Argentina (1st) still lead the way ahead of France (2nd), England (3rd, up 1) are now in the trio of teams at the front of the pack, followed by Belgium (4th, up 1), who have also climbed one place. Although Brazil (5th, down 2) have lost ground following back-to-back defeats by Colombia and Argentina, they have clung on to their place in the top 5," FIFA’s press office said in a statement.

"The Netherlands (6th, up 1) and Portugal (7th, down 1) have traded places in the top 10, which is once again completed by Spain (8th), Italy (9th) and Croatia (10th). Uruguay (11th, up 4) have made solid progress, but they have to be content with a place just outside the top 10," the statement added.

The next edition of the FIFA World Ranking will be published on December 21, 2023.

The International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA) announced on February 28, 2022 that the Russian national team and all professional clubs representing the country were barred from taking part in FIFA tournaments.

The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) made the same decision in regard to the Russian national football team’s participation in UEFA tournaments.

Both FIFA and UEFA cited Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine as being the reason for their decisions.

Since sanctions were introduced, the Russian national football squad has played a host of friendlies against other countries, namely against Kyrgyzstan (2-1), Tajikistan (0-0), Uzbekistan (0-0), Iran (1-1), Iraq (2-0), Cameroon (1-0), Kenya (2-2) and Cuba (8-0).

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