FIFA World Rankings 2019: England Climb to 4th in April List as Belgium Stay Top
England have climbed one place fourth in the latest FIFA World Rankings, leapfrogging 2018 World Cup finalists Croatia, while Belgium stay top ahead of world champions France. The top 10 remains dominated by European countries.
Having finished third at last summer's World Cup, Belgium have been top since September when they moved into joint first place with France. Les Bleus fell to second the following month, leaving Belgium as the world's number one international side ever since.
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England's rise to fourth comes after the Three Lions thrashed Czech Republic and Montenegro 5-0 and 5-1 respectively - with Raheem Sterling & Harry Kane starring - in their first Euro 2020 qualifiers last month.
Brazil, third, and Uruguay, sixth, are the only non-Europeans in the top 10.
Portugal and Switzerland, who will contest the inaugural UEFA Nations League finals this summer, are seventh and eighth respectively, while Spain are ninth and Denmark tenth.
After a disastrous 2018 in both the World Cup and Nations League, Germany are beginning to recover and have risen three places to 13th after an unbeaten start to 2019. Beaten by Germany in Amsterdam last month, Netherlands have fallen two places to 16th.
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Italy have risen one place to 17th, Wales stay 19th, while Peru have dropped out of the top 20.
Republic of Ireland are big movers after climbing five places to 29th, while Austria have plummeted from 23rd to 34th and are the biggest fallers anywhere in the world. Meanwhile, Israel hold the honour of the most improved international side after climbing eight places to 84th.
San Marino remain the lowest ranked team in the world in 211th place.
FIFA World Rankings Top 30, April 2019:
Rank | Country | Change |
1 | Belgium | - |
2 | France | - |
3 | Brazil | - |
4 | England | up 1 |
5 | Croatia | down 1 |
6 | Uruguay | up 1 |
7 | Portugal | down 1 |
8 | Switzerland | - |
9 | Spain | - |
10 | Denmark | - |
11 | Argentina | - |
12 | Colombia | - |
13 | Germany | up 3 |
14 | Sweden | - |
15 | Chile | down 2 |
16 | Netherlands | down 2 |
17 | Italy | up 1 |
18 | Mexico | down 1 |
19 | Wales | - |
20 | Poland | - |
=21 | Iran | up 1 |
=21 | Peru | down |
23 | Senegal | up 1 |
24 | USA | up 1 |
25 | Romania | - |
26 | Japan | up 1 |
27 | Ukraine | up 3 |
28 | Tunisia | - |
=29 | Republic of Ireland | up 5 |
=29 | Venezuela | up 3 |
=29 | Serbia | up 2 |
