In the middle of the European Football Championship, the international football federation FIFA published its latest ranking on Thursday. Not much has changed, and the Red Devils remain third, with 1797.98 points.
World champion Argentina (1860.14 pts) and vice-world champion France (1837.47 pts) are still numbers one and two, with Belgium in third place. Behind the Red Devils, Brazil is in fourth place, and England has dropped down to fifth.
The Red Devils are in full preparation for their second group match at the European Championship, at 21:00 on Saturday against Romania. On Monday, they surprisingly lost their opening match against Slovakia (1-0). Next Wednesday (at 18:00), Ukraine will be the last opponent in the group stage.
Ukraine dropped two places to 24th but, in theory, remain the strongest opponent of the Devils in the group stage. Slovakia rose three places and is now 45th, Romania follows at 47th.
Belgian supporter ahead of a football game between Belgian national team Red Devils and Slovakia on Monday 17 June 2024. Credit: Belga / Dirk Waem
Previously, the Red Devils were in first place in the FIFA rankings from September 2018 to March 2022, as well as between November 2015 and March 2016. They have also been crowned 'Team of the Year' five times in the past (2015, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021).
The country that takes first place in the FIFA rankings at the end of each calendar year receives the award. Only Brazil (13 times) and Spain (six times) have been in the lead more often at the end of a year since the first presentation of the award in 1993.
The next FIFA ranking will be released on 18 July, after the European Championship and the Copa América (which started on Thursday).
FIFA ranking of 20 June (the previous ranking of 4 April is in brackets)
1. Argentina 1860.14 points (1)
2. France 1837.47 (2)
3. Belgium 1797.98 (3)
4. Brazil 1791.85 (5)
5. England 1787.88 (4)
6. Portugal 1747.04 (6)
7. The Netherlands 1746.66 (7)
8. Spain 1729.92 (8)
9. Croatia 1728.30 (10)
10. Italy 1724.37 (9)
11. United States 1676.52 (11)
12. Morocco 1669.44 (13)
12. Colombia 1669.44 (12)
14. Uruguay 1663.44 (15)
15. Mexico 1652.33 (14)
16. Germany 1646.78 (16)
17. Japan 1628.81 (18)
18. Senegal 1623.34 (17)
19. Switzerland 1617.24 (19)
20. Iran 1611.16 (20)
...
24. Ukraine 1565.37 (22)
45. Slovakia 1467.77 (48)
47. Romania 1462.35 (46)
