Germany replace Brazil at top of FIFA rankings

New Delhi: Germany have replaced Brazil to become the new numero uno team in the latest FIFA rankings. Brazil meanwhile have dropped to the second spot. Germany have risen to the top spot after recently beating Czech Republic 2-1 and thrashing Norway 6-0 in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

Brazil on the other hand were a much-fancied team when it played Colombia in the qualifiers but had to be contend with a draw and eventually lose points in the rankings system.

European champions Portugal climbed three places to third - even though they are second in their World Cup qualifying group behind Switzerland. In another surprise, Argentina are fourth in the rankings despite struggling to qualify for the World Cup after drawing their last two games - away to Uruguay and at home to Venezuela.

War-torn Syria, who have reached the Asian playoff stage in the World Cup qualifiers despite playing their ‘home’ World Cup qualifiers in Malaysia because of the security situation in the country, rose to their highest-ever ranking of 75.

Three other teams reached their best-ever place - Peru (12th), Northern Ireland (20th) and Luxemburg (101st) after they held France to a 0-0 draw away. (With Reuters inputs)