In another surprise, Argentina are fourth in the rankings despite struggling to qualify for the World Cup after drawing their last two games - away to Uruguay and at home to Venezuela. War-torn Syria, who have reached the Asian playoff stage in the World Cup qualifiers despite playing their 'home' World Cup qualifiers in Malaysia because of the security situation in the country, rose to their highest-ever ranking of 75.NEW #FIFARANKING??? ??&?? into top 5⃣ ??@SeleccionPeru, @NorthernIreland & ??Syria reach all-time highs ? ℹ️?https://t.co/WBTgrGqed1 pic.twitter.com/xIumGLw90N
— FIFA.com (@FIFAcom) September 14, 2017
Three other teams reached their best-ever place - Peru (12th), Northern Ireland (20th) and Luxemburg (101st) after they held France to a 0-0 draw away. The rankings made disappointing reading for Asia with only three sides in the top 50 - Iran, Japan and Australia. The next FIFA rankings will be announced on Oct. 16 and used to determine the seedings in the draw for the four European playoff ties for next year's World Cup finals in Russia.New FIFA rankings announced - England falling behind Wales and a change at the top https://t.co/VuekPJTcp1 pic.twitter.com/JqpCheuVti
— Mirror Football (@MirrorFootball) September 14, 2017