Podium unchanged, Malta on the move

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Updated: October 23, 2020
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•120 international fixtures played in October
•Top three unchanged in World Ranking
•Malta the biggest climber this month

Qualifying games for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™, the play-offs for UEFA EURO 2021, and UEFA Nations League fixtures were among the 120 internationals played over the last month, resulting in significant movement in October’s edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking.

While the podium remains the same, the gap has narrowed between top-ranked Belgium and their immediate pursuers, France and Brazil, following the Red Devils‘ loss to England (4th) in the UEFA Nations League – their first defeat since November 2018.

However, there are changes to the Top 10: Spain (6th, +1) and Argentina (8th, +1) swapped places with Uruguay (7th, -1) and Croatia (9th, -1) respectively.

Further down the classification, Denmark (13th, +3), Algeria (30th, +5), Paraguay (35th, +5), Morocco (39th, +4), Scotland (45th, +4), and Hungary (47th, +5) all progressed, with the Magyars breaking into the Top 50 at the expense of Bosnia and Herzegovina (51, -1).

The biggest climber this month was Malta (180th, +6), who jumped six places courtesy of victories over Gibraltar (195th, unchanged) and Latvia (142nd, -5) and a draw with Andorra (145th, -8). Also worthy of note is the progress of Ecuador (60th, +4), Panama (77th, +4) and Israel (88th, +5).

The method used to calculate positioning in the World Ranking is explained HERE.

Click here to view the complete ranking.

The next FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking will be published on 26 November 2020.Leader   Belgium (unchanged)
Moves into top 10   None
Moves out of top 10   none
Matches played in total   120
Most matches played   several teams with 3 matches
Biggest move by points   Hungary (plus 21 points)
Biggest move by ranks   Malta (plus 6 ranks)
Biggest drop by points   Romania (minus 28 points)
Biggest drop by ranks   Romania (minus 10 ranks)
Newly ranked teams   none
Teams that are no longer ranked   none
Inactive teams, not ranked   Cook Islands