Zurich, Switzerland - The FIFA/Coca-Cola rankings for the month of July were released on Wednesday, and they saw Brazil regain the top spot with their win in the Copa America competition this past Sunday.
Brazil edges out Argentina, who moved into the second spot because of its good form in the Copa America, after a 3-0 win in the Copa final. The top three teams in last year’s World Cup came in next with defending champions Italy at number three, runners-up France in fourth place and host-nation Germany finishing up the top five. A 50 percent devaluation of last year’s World Cup matches cost these three teams significant points, but they were still able to maintain lofty positions in the rankings because of strong play in EURO 2008 qualifying.
The Netherlands moved up three places to the sixth spot, followed by top-10 newcomers Croatia at seventh. Portugal, Spain and Mexico round out the top 10, with the Mexicans improving a whopping 16 places after making it to the Gold Cup final and a third-place finish in the Copa America.
Mexico is now the highest ranked team in CONCACAF after jumping ahead of the United States. The Americans moved up into 16th after their Gold Cup title, but a disappointing effort in the Copa America allowed the U.S. to climb just two spots into 14th. The team will next get a chance to improve on its ranking in September with a couple of friendlies in Europe.
There were three teams who suffered large drops in the rankings after the devaluation of last year’s World Cup matches as the Ivory Coast fell 11 places to 31st, Ghana dropped to 37th after moving down 18 spots and Switzerland was knocked down 20 places to 45th.
The Copa America competition did not just benefit the teams at the top. Others such as Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile and Peru also benefited from good results. Uruguay’s semifinal appearance moved them up 11 spots to 19th, Paraguay moved into 29th for an eight-place improvement, while both Chile and Peru moved into the top 50 by getting into the knockout round.
The next FIFA/Coca-Cola rankings will be released on August 22.
Points are accumulated based on the results of a team’s matches over the past four years, the importance of each match, the strength of the opponent, the strength of the region and the number of matches per year that each team plays.
