ZURICH: Iceland have climbed to an all-time high position of 18th in the latest FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking.

The rise of the first-time World Cup finalists (18th, up two) is one of the more notable changes in a February table left largely unaltered by a quiet period of international action.

Just 34 international friendlies, 28 of which were in Africa, came into the equation, resulting in a static top 15 that is still headed by Germany, Brazil and Portugal frist, second and third respectively, all unchanged).

There is some significant movement further down the order, though, with Venezuela (48th, up four), Hungary (49th, up five) and Jamaica (50th, up five) all entering the top 50 at the expense of Cameroon (51st, down six), Ghana (54th, down four) and Burkina Faso (57th, down 13).

Those falls by the African trio, and others in the continent, can be attributed both to results in recent friendlies and to the devaluation of last year’s CAF Africa Cup of Nations in calculating points tallies. But there were gains as well as losses with Congo (88th, up eight) and Sudan (118th, up six) among the biggest climbers.

The next FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking will be published on March 15.

Summary:

Leader Germany (unchanged)

Moves into top 10 None
Moves out of top 10 None
Matches played in total 34
Most matches played Libya, Nigeria (6 matches each)
Biggest move by points Iceland (up 58 points)
Biggest move by ranks Congo (up 8 ranks)
Biggest drop by points Burkina Faso (down 143 points)
Biggest drop by ranks Burkina Faso, Egypt (down 13 ranks each)
Newly ranked teams None
Teams that are no longer ranked None
Inactive teams, not ranked None

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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