Samoa, white, defeated American Samoa 2-0 in the FIFA World Cup 26™ Oceania Qualifiers in Apia on 6 September 2024. Photo: OFC Media via Phototek
- Total of 184 internationals played earlier this month
- Argentina remain on top despite hiccup
- Samoa jumps seven places, NZ and Solomon Islands drop
No fewer than 184 international matches - which involved teams from all six confederations - took place across the first week and a half of this month.
FIFA World Cup 26™ qualifiers headlined the billing in the AFC, OFC and CONMEBOL regions, while encounters in continental competitions and friendlies were contested elsewhere. All that action has had a significant knock-on effect on the FIFA/Coca-Cola Men's World Ranking.
It is getting tighter at the summit. After respectively being beaten 2-1 away to Colombia and 3-1 at home to Italy, Argentina (1st) and France (2nd) will be looking nervously in their proverbial rear-view mirrors.
Spain (3rd) and England (4th) are looming large in pursuit, with Brazil (5th) and Belgium (6th) hot on their heels. Yet, despite the tremors, the top ten remains unchanged, continuing to be rounded off by the Netherlands (7th), Portugal (8th), Colombia (9th) and Italy (10th).
In the Oceania Football Confederations (OFC), Samoa leapt seven places to 185 after beating Tonga and American Samoa in their FIFA World Cup qualifying matches. Fiji also jumped up three places to 150 after beating the Solomon Islands and drawing with Hong Kong.
It means that Fiji is closing in on the Solomon Islands who dropped to 144 after two losses.
New Zealand remains the highest-ranked OFC team but dropped one place to 95 after a loss to Mexico and a commendable draw against the USA.
There has been no movement in the top 15, but it is a different story thereafter, as Japan (16th, +2), IR Iran (19th, +1) and Denmark (20th, +1) have all made their mark in the chasing pack. Meanwhile, the main movers and shakers in the top 50 are Egypt (31st), Côte d'Ivoire (33rd), Tunisia (36th) and Algeria (41st), who have all risen five places, and Greece (48th, +6), who have gone one better.
Further down, Bolivia (83rd, +6) have gained more points than any other team in the ranking (+35.20). Kenya (102nd, +6) and St Lucia (164th, +6) have also made substantial headway; however, the biggest climbers in terms of ranks are Brunei Darussalam (183rd) along with Samoa.
While San Marino (210th) remain rooted to the bottom of the pile, their first victory in more than 20 years was nevertheless one of the stories of the month.
La Serenissima's previous triumph had been a 1-0 success against Liechtenstein in April 2004 and, after a 140-game winless run, they repeated the feat this past 5 September against the same opposition and by the same scoreline.
- Leaders Argentina (unchanged)
- Moves into top 10 None
- Moves out of top 10 None
- Matches played in total 184
- Most matches played 178 teams (2 matches each)
- Biggest move by points Bolivia (up 35.20 points)
- Biggest move by ranks Brunei Darussalam, Samoa (up 7 ranks)
- Biggest drop by points Australia (down 26.99 points)
- Biggest drop by ranks Qatar (down 10 ranks)
- Newly ranked teams None
- Teams that are no longer ranked None
- Inactive teams, not ranked Eritrea
-FIFA