ZURICH: Wales are above England for the first time in the FIFA World Ranking. Chris Coleman’s men have remained in ninth slot while Roy Hodgson’s team have dropped two places to 10th.

There is no change at the top of the September edition of the ranking, with Argentina (first, unchanged) on 1,442 points continuing to lead the way ahead of Belgium (second, unchanged) and Germany (third, unchanged).

Chile  (eighth, up two) are the only team to have made significant movement in the top 10, and they are now in their highest-ever position since the revision of the world ranking in 2006. Austria (13th, up one) and Congo (42nd, up one) are in their best positions since 1993.

The following teams have also climbed at least five places: Georgia (147th, up seven), Panama (59th, up six), Cuba (113th, up six), the Dominican Republic (123rd, up six), Armenia (83rd, up five) and Nicaragua (139th, up five). Three teams – Rwanda (78th, up 13), Guatemala (98th, up 10) and Fiji (181st, up 17) – have even made gains of at least 10 places.

The composition of the top 50 for September 2015 also shows little change, with Egypt (49th, up three) the only newcomers in this group at the expense of the Republic of Ireland (51st, down one) and the Cape Verde Islands (56th, down six), who have both dropped out of last month’s “top 51”.

The regional composition of the top 50 now looks as follows: UEFA: 30 teams (down one); CAF eight; CONMEBOL eight; CONCACAF three; AFC one; OFC none.

A total of 15 new international “A” matches have been taken into account for this edition of the ranking, all of them friendly matches in the CONCACAF (1 match), Asia (10), Africa (2) or Oceania (2) zones.

The next FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking will be published on 1 October 2015.

Summary

Leaders: Argentina (unchanged)

Moves into top 10: none

Moves out of top 10: none

Matches played in total: 15

Most matches played: Cambodia, China PR, Fiji, Japan, Korea DPR, Korea Republic (two  matches each)

Biggest move by points: Rwanda (up 57 points)

Biggest move by ranks: Fiji (up 17 ranks)

Biggest drop by points: Northern Ireland (down 34 points)

Biggest drop by ranks: Seychelles (down seven ranks)

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