ZURICH (DA) — Argentina will begin its FIFA World Cup title defense as the No. 1 team in the FIFA/Coca-Cola Men’s World Ranking, reclaiming the top spot in the final ranking before the 2026 tournament.
The reigning world champion moved up 2 places after winning both of its warm-up matches against Iceland and Honduras. Argentina had not led the ranking since July 2025.
Spain stayed second, while France dropped 2 places to third after losing to Côte d’Ivoire before beating Northern Ireland.
Curaçao remained No. 82 with 1,294.77 points, gaining 0.12 points in the latest ranking. The Blue Wave are one spot ahead of Haiti, which is No. 83 with 1,293.10 points, and 3 spots ahead of New Zealand, which is No. 85.
Germany, Curaçao’s opening opponent in Group E, stayed No. 10 with 1,735.77 points. Ecuador remained No. 23 with 1,598.52 points, while Côte d’Ivoire moved up 1 place to No. 33 with 1,540.87 points.
Morocco rose to No. 7, its highest position since the FIFA/Coca-Cola Men’s World Ranking was introduced in August 1993. Morocco moved ahead of the Netherlands, which dropped to No. 8.
Belgium stayed ninth, and Germany completed the top 10.
Mexico climbed to No. 14, Uruguay moved up to No. 16 and IR Iran entered the top 20 at No. 20.
FIFA said 144 matches were played during the ranking period. India and Nigeria played the most matches with 4 each.
Yemen had the biggest points gain, adding 15.8 points. Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Yemen each moved up 4 places, the largest jump by ranking position.
Lebanon had the biggest drop, falling 7 places and losing 15.7 points.
The ranking also will be used as a tiebreaker under the World Cup competition regulations if teams remain tied after earlier criteria are applied. It also can help determine which third-place teams advance to the Round of 32 if multiple third-ranked teams remain tied after the first tiebreaking steps.
The next FIFA/Coca-Cola Men’s World Ranking is scheduled to be published July 20.