England on the slide in latest FIFA rankings

England have dropped two places to fifth in the latest FIFA rankings, with Spain remaining top of the pile for another month.



Roy Hodgson's side beat Moldova 5-0 away from home before drawing 1-1 to Ukraine at Wembley in their opening two World Cup qualifiers last month.

As a result they have slipped behind Portugal and Argentina in the rankings. Scotland and Wales drop to 56th and 57th respectively, while Northern Ireland rise 12 places to 117th. Ireland are 28th, down two.

Colombia leapt into the top 10 for the first time in 10 years on Wednesday, while Brazil dropped to a record low despite winning three games in the last month.

Colombia, under Argentina's 2006 World Cup coach Jose Pekerman and spearheaded by Atletico Madrid forward Radamel Falcao, enjoyed a 4-0 win over Uruguay and 3-1 win in Chile in last month's World Cup qualifiers.

Those results catapulted the South Americans, who last qualified for the World Cup in 1998, 13 places up the table to ninth.

2014 World Cup hosts Brazil have not played a competitive match since last year's Copa America and, as friendlies carry less weight in the complex ranking system, they have dropped down the table as a result.

Despite beating South Africa 1-0, China 8-0 and Argentina 2-1 last month, Mano Menezes's side slipped to 14th in the table.

World and European champions Spain stayed top, ahead of Germany, while Portugal moved into third place.

Central African Republic, in 49th place, climbed for the seventh month in a row to enter the top 50 for the first time since the rankings began.



Top 10:

1. (1) Spain

2. (2) Germany

3. (4) Portugal

4. (7) Argentina

5. (3) England

6. (8) Netherlands

7. (5) Uruguay

8. (6) Italy

9. (22) Colombia

10. (11) Greece