GENEVA, April 3. /TASS/. Russia has fallen one spot in the FIFA World Ranking, according to the list published by the world’s governing body of football on Thursday.
Russia is currently 35th with 1,516.27 points in the FIFA World Ranking list, one spot lower than the previous rankings released by FIFA in December.
Last month, the Russian national team played two friendlies in Moscow, defeating Grenada and Zambia 5-0 in both matches.
The FIFA Top-10 is still led by Argentina, but the world governing body stated that a slew of international matches since last December "have made for changes aplenty in the latest version of the standings, including some top-10 turbulence."
"Argentina (1st) remain top thanks to impressive wins away to Uruguay (1-0) and at home to Brazil (4-1), but the Albiceleste have new company, as Spain (2nd, up 1) took full advantage of France’s (3rd, down 1) slip-up in Croatia to secure second spot. Les Bleus nevertheless remain on the podium, with England (4th) looking on and Brazil (5th) completing the top 5," the statement reads.
"The Netherlands (6th, up 1) are in close pursuit of the leading pack, having overtaken Portugal (7th, down 1). Belgium (8th), Italy (9th) and Germany (10th) have all preserved their top-10 berths," according to FIFA’s statement.
The Top-10 of football nations according to FIFA World Ranking is as follows: 1st Argentina (1,886.16 points); 2nd Spain (1,854.64); 3rd France (1,852.71); 4th England (1,819.02); 5th Brazil (1,776.03); 6th the Netherlands (1,752.44); 7th Portugal (1,750.08); 8th Belgium (1,735.75); 9th Italy (1,718.31) and 10th Germany (1,716.98).
The next edition of the FIFA World Rankings will be published on July 10, 2025.
Russia’s football ban
The International Association Football Federation (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.
In turn, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) made a similar 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 grounds for their respective bans on Russian teams’ participation in competitions.