Portugal go third in rankings

Europe occupies the top three places on the Fifa/Coca-Cola World Ranking after Portugal climbed third behind leaders Spain and Germany.

They are followed by four South American sides in Colombia (4th, up 1), Uruguay (5th, up 1) and fierce rivals Argentina (down 3) and Brazil (up 3), who share sixth position. Just 12 points separate this quartet.

Greece return to the top 10 for the first time since October 2012, while Scotland (22nd, up 15) are the only team to have climbed over 10 places.

Two teams managed to reach their highest-ever positions: Azerbaijan (85th, up six) and Afghanistan (122nd, up five).

Conversely, a number of teams have dropped by more than 10 places: Albania (70th, down 16), Israel (78th, down 13), New Zealand (111th, down 21), Liberia (119th, down 22), Dominican Republic (126th, down 15), Tajikistan (133rd, down 12), New Caledonia (136th, down 18), Philippines (143rd, down 13), Turkmenistan (156th, down 14), Tahiti (157th, down 19) and Hong Kong (158th, down 13).

Only six matches were played over the past month. The majority of changes to the Fifa/Coca-Cola World Rankings can be attributed to the devaluation of matches from previous years, most of which were Fifa World Cup™ qualifiers and now have a greatly reduced weighting.

No team has managed to break into the top 50. Uefa has an unparalleled 27 sides in the leading half-century, following by CONMEBOL and the CAF on eight, CONCACAF on five, the AFC on two and the OFC on zero.

The six matches played brought the total number evaluated so far this year to 128.

The next Fifa/Coca-Cola World Rankings will be published on 8 May 2014.

Fifa.com