Manama, Dec. 22 (BNA): Winning the World Cup was not enough to lift Argentina off the top of FIFA, with Brazil retaining first place on Thursday.
Brazil were eliminated in the quarter-finals by Croatia, but they have gained enough ranking points from the results achieved over recent years that they feed into FIFA’s calculations.
Argentina moved up one place to second, and eventual winners France moved up to third, according to the Associated Press.
Belgium is still in fourth place, losing two places, to qualify from the group stage. The quarter-finalists England and the Netherlands remained in 5th and 6th place, respectively.
Croatia rose five places to rank seventh. European champions Italy are eighth despite failing to qualify for the World Cup.
Morocco is the best-ranked African country in 11th place, advancing by 11 places, in its historic march to the semi-finals.
The United States is the 13th best team in the CONCACAF region, up three spots after advancing to the Round of 16. Mexico is No. 15.
Japan leads the AFC teams at No. 20, and has moved up four places, and Australia has moved up 11 places, to No. 27. Both have reached the round of 16.
Cameroon, who beat Brazil in the group stage, moved up 10 places to 33rd.
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