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

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

MOSCOW, December 21. /TASS/. The Russian national football team remained in the 38th place of the FIFA World Ranking, according to the list published by the world’s governing body of football on Thursday.

Russia is ranked 38th with 1498.84 points as it played no international matches this month, including friendly games. The country’s national team played last time in November, when it defeated on home turf the Cuban national football team. The match was held in Russia’s city of Volgograd and the hosting team defeated 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.

"Only 11 men’s international matches have been played since the last FIFA Men’s World Ranking was released in November," FIFA’s press office said in a statement. "Given the lack of action, it is small wonder that there are not many changes in December’s edition of the standings."

"A year on from tasting glory at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, Argentina (1st) are still on top of the world as 2023 draws to a close," according to the statement. "France (2nd) and England (3rd) round off the year-end podium and there has been no significant movement in the top 13."

The next edition of the FIFA World Ranking will be published on February 15, 2024.

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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