Argentina moved top as South America dominated the monthly FIFA rankings yesterday with five teams, half of the continent’s total, in the top 10.

Argentina’s World Cup qualifying wins away at Chile and home to Bolivia dislodged Belgium, who had been leading for the previous five months but dropped into second.

Despite the defeat, Chile climbed to third, an all-time high, with Colombia one place behind them in fourth, Brazil seventh and Uruguay ninth.

Northern Ireland reached their best-ever FIFA ranking of 26th.

Michael O’Neill’s side, who are preparing for the 2016 European Championship, will be boosted by a climb of two places in the official rankings.

The move continues the upward trend that Northern Ireland have experienced since 2013, with Scotland concurrently rising five places to 40th, although there was no good news for England, Wales or the Republic of Ireland.

England dropped a place to 10th, with Ireland slipping to 31st, while the biggest slide among the three comes for Wales, who fall seven places to 24th despite qualifying for Euro 2016.

The rankings did not make happy reading for Asia, who had only two teams in the top 50, Iran in 42nd and regional champions Australia in 50th.

Meanwhile, Malta slipped three places to 164th despite figuring in a goalless draw in a friendly match against Moldova last month. Pietro Ghedin’s team are level on 149 points with Tajikistan.

Top 10

1. Argentina 1,532; 2. Belgium1,352; 3. Chile 1,348; 4. Colombia 1,337; 5. Germany 1,309; 6. Spain 1,277; 7. Brazil 1,251; 8. Portugal 1,184; 9. Uruguay 1,158; 10. England 1,069.