New FIFA rankings see Spain return to the top 10, India drop another 12 ranks
The new FIFA rankings saw Spain return to the top 10 list while Argentina managed to maintain their position at the top, although they lost 23 points.
Argentina played two games in September, one against Bolivia and the other against Mexico. While they had a brilliant result against the Bolivians where they won 7-0, they were only able to draw against Mexico after both teams scored two goals each.
Spain who were out of the top 10 managed to make a return after winning both their Euro 2016 Qualifier matches. While the victory against Macedonia was important, the game that helped their ranking the most was their victory over Slovakia, who are currently placed 18. While Juan Mata aided in the victory against Macedonia, it was the Barcelona stars Jordi Alba and Andres Iniesta who stepped up in the game against Slovakia.
Although England are still undefeated in the Euro qualifiers, they didn’t manage to get enough points to go up or down in the rankings table. They managed to retain their position in the top 10, after accumulating more points than Austria. England won both their matches in September, when they defeated San Marino 6-0 and Switzerland 2-0. The month was also memorable for English captain Wayne Rooney as he managed to beat Sir Bobby Charlton’s record of most goals scored for the country.
Best and worst movers in the list
Some of the biggest movers this time were two African teams – Liberia and South Sudan. The Liberians managed to jump 65 positions, while South Sudan went up by 54. Liberia are currently tied with another big mover Nicaragua, for the 95th place.
Macedonia and Cyprus had the worst drop this time, as both teams went down 28 positions. Macedonia who were previously ranked 104 went down to 132, and Cyprus who were previously in the top 100 are out of the list and place right above Aruba with 300 points.
India, on the other hand, dropped another 32 points and have gone down to 167th rank from 155th. They saw the drop after their 3-0 loss against Iran on September 8th.
| Rank | Team | Total Points | +/- |
| 1 | Argentina | 1419 | - |
| 2 | Germany | 1401 | +1 |
| 3 | Belgium | 1387 | -1 |
| 4 | Portugal | 1235 | +2 |
| 5 | Colombia | 1224 | -1 |
| 6 | Spain | 1223 | +5 |
| 7 | Brazil | 1204 | -2 |
| 8 | Wales | 1195 | +1 |
| 9 | Chile | 1177 | -1 |
| 10 | England | 1161 | - |
| 11 | Austria | 1100 | +2 |
| 12 | Switzerland | 1044 | +5 |
| 13 | Romania | 1042 | -6 |
| 14 | Netherlands | 1004 | -2 |
| 15 | Czech Republic | 983 | +5 |
| 16 | Croatia | 965 | -2 |
| 17 | Italy | 962 | -1 |
| 18 | Slovakia | 936 | -3 |
| 19 | Algeria | 927 | -3 |
| 20 | Uruguay | 919 | -2 |