Portugal Overtake Brazil to Reach Fifth in October FIFA Rankings, Spain Stay No. 1
Spain remain No. 1 in the October FIFA men's world ranking, with Argentina second, France third and England fourth. The big move is further down the top six, where Portugal rise to No. 5 and push Brazil down to sixth.
- 1. Spain
- 2. Argentina
- 3. France
- 4. England
- 5. Portugal (up from 7th in the July ranking)
- 6. Brazil (down from 5th)
Spain have held the top spot since July 20, when they beat Argentina 1-0 in the World Cup final to win their second World Cup title. The top four places are unchanged from that update, so Argentina, France and England all keep their positions.
Portugal were seventh after the World Cup, where they went out in the round of 16 to eventual champions Spain. Since then, Jorge Jesus's side have won all four of their Nations League matches in Group A4, including a 4-2 win away at Denmark and 2-1 wins over Norway. Those results earned enough points to take them past both Morocco and Brazil.
Brazil slip a place even though they won their friendlies on this window, beating Australia 4-2 in Brisbane and India 4-0 in Kolkata under Carlo Ancelotti. Friendlies carry less weight than competitive matches in the FIFA formula, and Portugal's competitive wins counted for more. Brazil still stay ahead of Morocco in sixth place, as the Atlas Lions could only draw with Mali.
The October update reflects results from the September-October international window, which wrapped up on October 6.