Spain maintains its hold at the top of the FIFA men’s world rankings released on Friday, with Germany making progress toward securing a top seed in the upcoming World Cup finals tournament draw on December 5.
Germany climbed two spots to rank No. 10 after consecutive victories in their World Cup qualifying matches against Luxembourg and Northern Ireland, recovering from a previous loss against Slovakia last month.
Croatia, the runners-up of the 2018 World Cup and semifinalists in 2022, dropped to No. 11 following a draw in their match against Czechia last week.
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The top 12 seeds for the 48-team draw will include the three co-hosts: the United States, Canada, and Mexico, along with the nine highest-ranked teams based on the updated FIFA rankings for November.
The current No. 9, Italy, is likely to enter the European playoffs in March, having finished second in a qualifying group headed by Norway. This positioning ensures that the No. 10 seed may avoid facing other top-seeded teams during the draw for the tournament scheduled from June 11 to July 19.
Spain leads the rankings, followed by World Cup title defenders Argentina, and in third place is France. They are followed by England, Portugal, Netherlands, Brazil, and Belgium in eighth place.
The seedings for the World Cup draw will follow the FIFA rankings for pots 2 and 3, while pot 4 will consist of the six lowest-ranked direct qualifiers, plus six placeholders that will be filled by teams winning playoff matches in March.
Four European teams will secure advancement through the playoffs, and two additional spots are available from a global pool of six non-European teams including Bolivia and New Caledonia.
The rankings released in October also finalized the fixtures for an African playoff bracket scheduled for next month, determining which team will proceed to intercontinental play. The matchups are Nigeria vs. Gabon and Cameroon vs. Congo.
This report includes information from The Associated Press.