Spain Remains Atop FIFA Rankings, USA Plummets To 25th

World champions Spain safely top the October edition of FIFA’s World Rankings, and while the Netherlands maintained their second place slot, Brazil usurped now fourth place Germany for third. Argentina stays fifth followed by England, Uruguay and Portugal, though the story at the top of the rankings is less the order and more the growing gap between first and second (as well as second and third).

To give some idea of what a normal gap between teams is, Brazil now holds a seven rating point lead over Germany, their rating of 1493 passing the Germans’ 1481. That twelve point difference is a practical draw compared to the lead the Netherlands has on Brazil: 190 rating points, or roughly 12 percent of the Brazil’s rating. The gap between the Netherlands and Spain is even larger, in absolute terms. Spain has a 198 point lead on the Dutch.

With spots five through eight unchanged from September’s release, the ranking’s other story was the big movers lower in the chart. Russia jumped a baffling 15 places, from 25th to tenth, having beat the Republic of Ireland in the last rating period. France jumped nine spots to 18th while moving to the top of their Euro 2012 qualifying group. Montenegro’s unbeaten record in Euro qualifying sees them jump 14 spots to 26th, while a Guinea, having won their first two 2012 Cup of Nations qualifiers, lept 34 spots to 47th.

Conversely, Serbia, Paraguay and the United States all tumbled out of the top 20. Serbia’s struggles since the World Cup sees the team ranked 22nd, down seven spots from last month. Paraguay saw a similar fall to 24th while the United States sits 25th after struggling in post-World Cup friendlies.

The overall rankings, top 20: