Spain have ended Argentina’s long reign at the top of the FIFA rankings, climbing to the summit after more than a year of stellar performances. Argentina, who held the top spot for a significant period, have now dropped to third place.

The latest rankings, released by world football’s governing body FIFA on Thursday, reflect the results of the recent international break. France also moved up one spot to second, while five-time world champions Brazil slipped to sixth.

A return to the top

This marks Spain’s return to the top of the men’s rankings for the first time since June 2014, when they were the reigning World Cup and two-time European Championship winners. La Roja’s rise was fueled by an impressive start to their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign, with dominant victories over Bulgaria (3-0) and Turkey (6-0).

France also made a perfect start to their qualifying efforts, defeating Ukraine 2-0 and Iceland 2-1, which helped them leapfrog Argentina.

Argentina’s slip and other movers

Despite a 3-0 home win against Venezuela, Argentina’s 1-0 loss to Ecuador in their CONMEBOL qualifier proved costly, knocking the reigning world champions down from the top spot. The defeat cost them 15.04 rating points, placing them in third with 1870.32 points, just shy of France’s 1870.92. Spain lead the ranking with 1875.37 points.

Other notable movements in the top 10 include England and Portugal. England, despite winning both of their recent qualifiers, remained in fourth. Portugal moved up one spot to fifth after two wins.

Brazil’s ranking dropped to sixth following a home win against Chile but a 1-0 away defeat to Bolivia under coach Carlo Ancelotti.

The Netherlands and Belgium held firm at seventh and eighth, respectively, while Croatia and Italy each climbed one spot to round out the top 10. Germany, after a 2-0 loss to Slovakia, dropped three places to 12th, while Slovakia surged 10 spots to 42nd.

Bangladesh’s position remained unchanged at 184th.