MOSCOW, April 3. /TASS/. Russia has dropped three spots in the FIFA World Rankings, according to the list published by the world’s governing body of football on Monday.
The Russian national team is currently 36th with 1,524.52 points in the FIFA World Ranking list, three spots lower than the last iteration. Russia’s national football squad, which is still under the strain of FIFA sanctions, played no friendly matches in December 2025.
The Top-10 football nations according to the FIFA World Ranking are as follows: 1st Spain (1,887.18 points); 2nd Argentina (1,873.33); 3rd France (1,870); 4th England (1,834.12); 5th Brazil (1,760.46); 6th Portugal (1,760.38); 7th the Netherlands (1,756.27); 8th Morocco (1,736.57); 9th Belgium (1,730.71) and 10th Germany (1,724.15).
"The recently concluded CAF Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) has made a significant impact on the January 2026 edition of the Men’s World Ranking, with both finalists, perhaps unsurprisingly, making significant strides," FIFA’s press office announced in a statement.
"Despite suffering heartbreak in the final, hosts Morocco (8th, up 3) can take comfort from returning to the top 10 for the first time since April 1998, reaching their best-ever position," the statement reads.
"AFCON winners Senegal (12th, up 7), have been rewarded for reclaiming the continental crown by scaling unprecedented heights of their own, but it is as you were at the top, with Spain (1st), FIFA world champions Argentina (2nd), and France (3rd) continuing to set the pace," according to FIFA.
"Morocco’s ascent has come at a cost for Croatia (11th, down 1), who have dropped out of the top 10, as well as for Belgium (9th, down 1) and Germany (10th, down 1)," FIFA added in its statement.
The next edition of the FIFA World Rankings will be published on April 1, 2026.
Russia’s football ban
The world’s governing football body, FIFA, announced on February 28, 2022, that the Russian national team and all professional clubs representing the country were barred from participating in FIFA tournaments.
In turn, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) made a similar decision regarding 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.