The European Championship in Portugal significantly reshuffled the teams in the top ten of the FIFA world ranking. Only the positions of the top three remained unchanged. As before, Brazil tops the ranking of the best teams on the planet. The French national team, which unexpectedly stumbled at the quarterfinal stage against the Greeks, occupies second place, and another Euro 2004 loser – the Spanish team – rounds out the top three.
An almost loss-free performance on the fields of Portugal by the Czech national team moved the Euro semifinalist up seven places at once, and now the Czechs are in 4th position. England also entered the top 10, sitting in 8th place. As for the Euro triumphator – the Greek national team, which is also a rival of the Ukrainian national team in the qualifying tournament for the 2006 World Cup – Otto Rehhagel's charges made the biggest leap in the ranking of the best teams on the planet, jumping from 35th place to 14th. Their final opponents – the Portuguese – also improved their position in the table of the strongest teams on the planet, moving from 22nd to 12th.
Sadly, the Ukrainian national team continued its downward movement in the ranking. After a 1:0 narrow defeat in a friendly match against the French, Blokhin's team lost 6 points and as of July 7 is in 77th place. Incidentally, the Ukrainian national team has been overtaken by Zambia (74th place) and Ghana (71st place), and Uzbekistan (80th) is catching up... The biggest loser in the FIFA ranking was the Austrian national team, which dropped 14 places over the past month.
FIFA ranking. 1. Brazil - 835 2. France - 813 3. Spain - 792 4. Czech Republic - 762 5. Holland - 748 6. Mexico - 743 7. USA - 735 8. England - 733 9. Italy - 729 10. Turkey - 723 ...12. Portugal - 715 ...14. Greece - 710 ...15. Denmark - 706 ...26. Russia - 655 ...53. Latvia - 555 ...77. UKRAINE – 515 ...94. Albania - 480 ...105. Georgia - 437 ...144. Kazakhstan – 313.