ZURICH: Croatia have climbed five places to fourth in the latest edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking after their World Cup qualifying wins against Serbia and Wales.

This equals their best position achieved previously after the Croats finished third at the 1998 World Cup.

The leading trio of Spain, Germany and Argentina remain unchanged but England (seventh) and Italy (eighth) both dropped three slots while Holland (ninth) edged back by one.

Behind them Ecuador(10th, up one) overtook Russia (11th, down one) to enter the top 10  for the first time thanks to wins over El Salvador and Paraguay.

In the top 50, Peru (32nd, up nine), Ukraine (37th, up 11), Albania (48th, up 16) and Wales (49th, up 22) have all progressed while,  outside the top 50, Equatorial Guinea (59th, up 45), Congo (77th, up 24), Tajikistan (112th, up 40) and Kyrgyzstan (142nd, up 59) have each climbed more than 20 places.

In addition to Ecuador,Venezuela (36th, up seven),Panama (38th, up three), Albania, Equatorial Guinea, Tajikistan and Afghanistan (139th, up two) have all achieved their highest-ever ranking.

A total of 120 A international matches were taken into account for the April ranking, most of them World Cup qualifiers (83) along with the AFC Challenge Cup (20 matches). The remaining 17 matches were  friendlies.

The total number of matches taken into account so far this year is 275.

Management summary

• ·         Leader                                     Spain (unchanged)
• ·         Moves into top ten                    Ecuador (10, up 1)
• ·         Moves out of top ten                 Russia (11, down 1)
• ·         Matches played in total              120
• ·         Most matches played                 Brazil, Bolivia, Lebanon, Kyrgyzstan, Macau, Pakistan, Tajikistan (3 matches each)
• ·         Biggest move by points               Equatorial Guinea (up 200 points)
• ·         Biggest move by ranks               Kyrgyzstan (up 59 ranks)
• ·         Biggest drop by points                Bolivia (down 104 points)
• ·         Biggest drop by ranks                 Northern Ireland, Georgia (down 22 ranks each)

Ranking as of 11 April 2013

Click here to view the complete ranking.

To find out more about the calculation of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking click here.

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