Brazil's Neymar celebrates with his teammates after scoring their third goal during the International Friendly match against Tunisia at the Parc des Princes, Paris, France on September 27, 2022. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes
Doha: Brazil has maintained their top spot, while Qatar has dropped two spots to 50th in the latest FIFA World Rankings, which were released on Thursday.
Brazil, one of the title favorites at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, will begin their quest for a sixth world title as the ranking leaders.
In beating Ghana and Tunisia in their two friendlies last week, A Seleçao widened the gap between themselves and their nearest challengers, Belgium (2nd, -), who lost to the Netherlands (8th, -) in the Nations League. Argentina (3rd, -) completes the podium.
The reigning world champions, France (4th, -) and England (5th, -) are close behind. The only change in the top 10 saw Italy (6th, +1) leapfrog Spain (7th, -1), who dropped down a place.
Qatar lost to Canada 0-2 before drawing against Chile in their international friendlies last month.
Meanwhile, there is more movement further down the rankings. Croatia (12th, plus 3) rose three places, while IR Iran (20th, plus 2) moved into the top 20, followed closely by Serbia (21st, plus 4), who gained four places.
The biggest movers were teams who failed to qualify for Qatar 2022, namely Scotland (40th, plus 5) and Azerbaijan (123rd, plus 5), both five places higher. Honourable mentions should also go to Algeria (37th, plus 4), Georgia (78th, plus 4), Mauritania (103rd, plus 4) and Suriname (139th, plus 4), all of whom ascended four places.
A total of 53 UEFA Nations League matches and 119 friendlies were played in the last international break before Qatar 2022, which begins on November 20.
As well as giving the 32 qualifiers for the upcoming world finals one last dress rehearsal, the matches also had an impact on the latest FIFA/Cola-Cola World Ranking.
