Argentina remain top in FIFA world rankings; Brazil climb

Argentina's Lionel Messi holds up the World Cup trophy as the team celebrates after the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 final soccer match between Argentina and France at the Lusail Stadium. World champions Argentina remain top of the men's football world rankings going into their Copa America title defence. Tom Weller/dpa

World champions Argentina remain top of the men's football world rankings going into their Copa America title defence.

Argentina top an unchanged top three ahead of France and Belgium in the latest list released on Thursday by the ruling body FIFA.

Brazil moved into fourth at the expense of England, followed by Portugal, the Netherlands, Spain and European champions Italy who moved one up into ninth ahead of Croatia.

Liberia were the biggest climbers, up 10 to 142nd as 187 matches were played since the last rankings, most notably World Cup qualifiers in Africa and Asia.

More changes are expected in the next rankings, with Euro 2024 having started and the Copa America to kick off later on Thursday.

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