Steady, France Retakes Top Position in FIFA Rankings

France national team. (Photo: Instagram.com/@equipedefrance)

France regained the top spot on the FIFA rankings list, in the update of the FIFA rankings list released Thursday.

France, as reported by Antara, rose two positions on the FIFA rankings list with two victories in their last test. This is the first time Les Bleus have been in the top spot since September 2018.

They overtook Spain (ranked 2, down one level) and 2022 World Cup champions Argentina (ranked 3, down one level) with a very small point difference. France total collected 1877.32 points, while Spain had 1876.40 points, and Argentina with 1874.81 points).

The efforts of European champions Spain to retain the top spot they have held since September 2025 were disrupted by a draw against Egypt (ranked 29th, up 2 levels) on Tuesday, March 31.

Another important movement came from Portugal (ranked 5, up one level), which exchanged positions with Brazil (ranked 6, down one level) after winning one victory and one draw in the latest test match, as well as taking advantage of the Selecao's defeat from France.

The rest of the teams occupying positions in the top 10 have not changed. Beyond that, Turkey (ranked 22nd, up three levels), Ivory Coast (ranked 34th, up three levels), Sweden (ranked 38th, up four levels), and Tunisia (ranked 44th, up three levels) became the teams with the biggest increases in the top 50.

Bosnia Herzegovina (ranked 65, up six levels) also has a double reason to celebrate this achievement. Their rankings have risen significantly and are able to join Sweden, Turkey, and the Czech Republic (ranked 41, up two levels) to qualify for this year's World Cup finals.

Vietnam (ranked 99, up nine places), Nepal (ranked 176, up six places), and Bhutan (ranked 186, up six places) also rose by more than five positions, although they are still far outside the top 50.

Eritrea (ranked 184) was also in the spotlight after returning to the FIFA rankings for the first time in almost three years.

With the end of the 2026 World Cup qualifying phase, only three teams out of the top 30 did not qualify for the final round. The three are Italy (ranked 12th, up one level), Denmark (ranked 20th, up one level), and Nigeria (ranked 26th, unchanged).

A total of 37 of the 48 teams that will appear in the tournament come from the top 50 rankings.

Meanwhile, Kosovo (ranked 78th, up one level), which failed to qualify for the World Cup after losing to Turkey in the European play-off final, managed to reach their highest position in their entire history on the FIFA rankings list.

The Indonesian national team remains in 122nd place in the world, with 1144.88 points. Indonesia last played in the FIFA Series by winning 4-0 over St Kitts and Nevis and then losing 0-1 to Bulgaria.