Spain won the World Cup. They also took the No. 1 ranking that comes with it.
FIFA released its updated men’s world rankings on Tuesday, with Spain climbing from second to first following their 1-0 victory over Argentina in Monday’s World Cup final at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Argentina, who had held the top spot since the last official rankings update on June 11—the day the 48-team tournament kicked off in Mexico—drop to second.
The top four remains unchanged beyond that swap. France and England stayed third and fourth, respectively, despite England’s 6-4 victory over France in the third-place match. The French had enough of a cushion in their overall points total to absorb that head-to-head defeat and hold their position.
FIFA Ranking Risers
Brazil and Morocco moved past Portugal to claim fifth and sixth. Portugal’s tournament ended in the round of 16—a 1-0 defeat to Spain—and the drop in the rankings reflects that early exit.
Mexico climbed four spots to tenth after a strong showing that included a perfect 3-0-0 group stage record and a 2-0 victory over Ecuador in the round of 32. Their run ended at the hands of England in a pulsating 3-2 defeat in Mexico City—but the overall campaign was enough to push El Tri up the standings. Belgium, who eliminated the United States in the round of 16 en route to the quarterfinals, move up to eighth.
The United States edged up one spot to 16th after winning their group and shutting out Bosnia-Herzegovina in the round of 32. Their tournament ended in a 4-1 loss to Belgium that flattered neither the scoreline nor the occasion, but the group stage performance was sufficient to produce a modest rankings gain.
Norway Make Leap
The biggest climbers of the entire post-tournament FIFA world rankings update, however, were Norway—up 12 spots to 19th.
Erling Haaland and the Vikings were one of the tournament’s undeniable stories, eliminating Brazil in the round of 16 in one of the most stunning results of the competition before losing 2-1 to England in the quarterfinals. It was Norway’s furthest ever World Cup run, and the 12-place rankings jump reflects just how significant that campaign was relative to where the country’s football stood before the tournament began.
Tunisia hold the unwanted distinction of the biggest drop in the FIFA ranking—also 12 spots, falling to fifty-seventh. The North Africans became the only one of ten African nations in the field to fail to advance from the group stage.
