Argentina topped Brazil Almost four months after winning the World Cup title, Argentina finally climbed to the top of the FIFA rankings. Runners-up France rose to second place. Albiceleste topped FIFA’s updated rankings on Thursday (April 6).
After opening the season with a loss against Saudi Arabia in the World Cup in Qatar, Argentina made it to the final with back-to-back wins. Then Albiceleste won the World Cup title after 36 years by defeating the 2018 champions France in a tiebreaker in the thrilling final. But even after winning the World Cup, Lionel Messi’s team could not overtake Brazil.
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Finally, Argentina was able to climb to the top of the ranking by winning friendly matches against Panama and Curacao during the international break in March. Five-time world champions Brazil have played only one friendly match since the World Cup. After losing that match against Morocco, the yellow jersey holders have dropped to the third place.
Argentina’s points increased by 2.55 in the updated ranking. The world champions became number one in the FIFA ranking with 1840.93 points. France, which was ranked third in the previous ranking, moved up to second place with 1838.39 points. The Blues had 1823.39 points in the previous ranking.
And Brazil, which has been at the top for a long time, has dropped to third place. The five-time world champions, who topped the previous time with 1840.77 points, have reduced their points to 1834.21.
Belgium, who were eliminated from the group stage in the World Cup in Qatar, is at number 4. The rest of the top ten teams are also in their previous positions. England is at number five, the Netherlands at six, Croatia, who finished third in the Qatar World Cup at seven, four-time world champions Italy at eight, Portugal at nine and Spain at number ten.
Morocco, who showed surprise at the World Cup in Qatar, is at number 11 as before.