ZURICH, March 14 (Reuters) - Argentina have moved into top
spot in FIFA's world rankings list for the first time,
dislodging world champions Italy whose reign at the top of the
table lasted just a month.
Argentina climbed from third to first place partly as a
result of their 1-0 win over France in February and partly
because older results have expired and are no longer used for
the points evaluation.
Apart from Argentina moving into first place, Italy slipped
down to second and Brazil, leaders for four and a half years
until January, slipped to third. There were no other changes in
the top 10.
The biggest movers in the top 50 were Finland, the surprise
leaders of Euro 2008 qualifying Group A, who have climbed 15
places to 33rd. Panama have climbed 20 places to 54th and are
the biggest movers of the month.
Cameroon are the highest placed team from outside Europe or
South America. The Africans are 18th on 893 points, ahead of
19th place Ghana and Ivory Coast, a further place back.
Iran are the highest ranked Asian team in 34th place (705
points), with Australia 40th (657) and Japan 42nd (639).
The Top 20 positions:
1. Argentina 1616 points
2. Italy 1592
3. Brazil 1557
4. France 1515
5. Germany 1390
6. England 1339
7. Netherlands 1313
8. Portugal 1288
9. Czech Rep 1195
10. Spain 1161
11. Ukraine 1037
12. Croatia 982
13. Greece 961
14. Romania 919
15. Sweden 914
16. Scotland 911
17. Switzerland 906
18. Cameroon 893
19. Ghana 881
20. Ivory Coast 875
