Portugal surpass Brazil to break into FIFA’s top five

Bangla Press Desk:  Brazil’s latest international window proved more comfortable on the pitch than in the rankings. After dropping points against Australia at the start of the window following the World Cup, the five-time world champions secured big wins in their next two matches but failed to fully recover the ranking points they had lost. As a result, Brazil dropped one place to sixth in FIFA’s latest rankings. Portugal, meanwhile, climbed two places after winning all four of their matches.

There were no changes at the top of FIFA’s latest men’s rankings, released on Wednesday (Oct 7). World champions Spain remain at No. 1, followed by Argentina and France. England also retained fourth place.

The changes began from fifth place. Brazil, who were fifth in the previous rankings, slipped to sixth this time. Their 1-1 draw with Australia in the opening match was a major factor. According to FIFA’s calculations, Brazil lost 2.02 ranking points from that match.

Carlo Ancelotti’s side then showed their quality, beating Australia 4-2 before securing a 4-0 victory over India. However, the points gained from those two wins were not enough to fully offset the loss from the opening match. Brazil therefore dropped one place from fifth.

Portugal took advantage of Brazil’s decline to make a significant jump in the rankings. They won all four of their UEFA Nations League matches, beating Wales 1-0, Norway 2-1 twice and Denmark 4-2. The results lifted Portugal to fifth place with 1,807.69 points.

Morocco sit directly behind Brazil in seventh place. The African side dropped one spot after drawing 1-1 with Mali, despite beating Gabon and Lesotho 2-0 during the same window. The gap between Morocco and Brazil is also very narrow, with Brazil on 1,806.51 points and Morocco on 1,805.34.

There were also some changes further down the top 10. Belgium, the Netherlands, Mexico and Colombia retained eighth, ninth, 10th and 11th places respectively. Switzerland climbed two spots to 12th, while Germany and Croatia each dropped one place. Germany are now 13th and Croatia 14th.