ZURICH: The flurry of World Cup warm-up matches has left its mark on the latest FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking.
While positions are maintained at the very top of the table, where Germany (first, unchanged) and Brazil (second, unchanged) still lead the way, the Russia-bound duo of Poland (eighth, up two) and Uruguay (14th, up three) have made strides within the top 20.
World Cup hosts Russia are lowest-ranked of all the 32 teams in the finals at 70, three slots below 67th-placed Saudi Arabia.
World Cup absentees Wales (18th, up three) have climbed into top 20 , while significant upward moves have also been seen from El Salvador (72, up 13), Azerbaijan (105, up 21), New Zealand (120, up 13), Kosovo (141, up 11), and Papua New Guinea (166, up 14).
The ranking makes less pleasant reading for Spain (10th, down two), who swapped places with the Poles, Tunisia (21, down down) and the Turks and Caicos Islands (206th, down four), who slumped to the bottom of the table after joining Anguilla, Bahamas, Eritrea, Somalia and Tonga on zero points.
The next FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking will be published on 19 July 2018.
Leader
Germany (unchanged)
Moves into top 10
None
Moves out of top 10
None
Matches played in total
74
Most matches played
Botswana, Madacascar (4 each)
Biggest move by points
Azerbaijan (up 76 points)
Biggest move by ranks
Azerbaijan (up 21 ranks)
Biggest drop by points
Tunisia (down 102 points)
Biggest drop by ranks
Guyana (down 18 ranks)
Newly ranked teams
None
Teams that are no longer ranked
None
Inactive teams, not ranked
None
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