Malta national team moves up five places in the latest FIFA rankings to hold 161st position

The Malta national team were among the biggest climbers in the latest FIFA world rankings after going up five places in this month’s list.

Emilio De Leo’s men have enjoyed an impressive international window last week as they secured an impressive 1-0 win over Finland in a World Cup qualifier in Helsinki and then were unlucky to concede a 3-2 defeat to Poland at the National Stadium on Monday.

The excellent victory against Finland enabled the national team to gain 17.41 points to move up five places in the latest standings and is now positioned in 161st place.

Emilio De Leo’s team are ahead of five other European countries, namely Andorra, who are placed 172nd, Gibraltar, who are sitting in 202nd position, Liechtenstein (205) and San Marino, who remain at the bottom of the list in 210th position.

Three other countries managed to climb five rankings this month. World Cup participants Uzbekistan moved up five places to 50 to reach the top half-century for the first time since October 2016.

Fabio Cannavaro’s men defeated the mighty Egypt before downing Iran in two recent friendlies.

Two other teams also surged by a similar margin: Philippines (136th) and Turkmenistan (137th).

Also making headway in the top 50 are Nigeria (38th, up three) and Tunisia (40th, up three).

Meanwhile, Kosovo have broken new ground by moving up four places to 80th and are in good stead to be crowned the year’s biggest climbers.

Spain have maintained their grip on top spot in the FIFA rankings, with Argentina, France and England retaining their places behind the pace-setters.

La Roja remain the team to beat at the top of the ranking after sealing progress to next year’s global showpiece with a victory over Georgia followed by a draw against Türkiye in their final two UEFA qualifiers.

The biggest climbers in the top ten were Brazil, who moved up two places to fifth at the expense of Portugal and the Netherlands, who are down to sixth and seventh respectively.