Brazil retain top spot, healthy lead over France

This month's edition of the FIFA World Ranking sees Brazil retain top spot with a healthy advantage of more than 50 points over their nearest challengers, France and Argentina.

There are few changes of note in the tightly-packed echelons of the top 20, but the US managed to climb one place to join Italy in 10th place.

Uruguay (15th, up 3) also gained ground thanks to the devaluation of past results, which sees Turkey, Germany and Denmark all slip down the pecking order.

As a result of the qualifying round for this year's CONCACAF Gold Cup, this month's major winners come from Central America and the Caribbean.

The most successful teams all put points on the board and consequently climb the ranking. Costa Rica (21st, up 6) were unbeaten en route to winning the UNCAF Nations Cup (the Central American championship) for the fifth time, while Jamaica (41st, up 5), Honduras (50th, up 8), Cuba (60th, up 11) and Guatemala (62nd, up 8) have also made significant progress.

Panama are in their best-ever position (97th, up 4) since the introduction of the ranking. Finland also sit proudly in their highest-ever spot (36th, up 2) after a triumphant tour of Asia, while Uzbekistan (46th, up 2) are the third and final team in their best position. Meanwhile, the progress of Malawi (108th, up 5) and Hong Kong (124th, up 10) is also noteworthy.

Ranked 136th last month, Malta forfeited another place and now share the 137th position with Tajikistan on 350 points.

The Faroe Islands still enjoy a higher position than Malta, ranked 133rd (-1). The other European minnows who trail Malta are Andorra (139th), Liechtenstein (144th), Kazakhstan (149th), Luxembourg (155th) and San Marino (161st).

Croatia, Malta's opponents in next week's Group Eight World Cup qualifier in Zagreb, have lost one place and are now ranked 24th.

In comparison to February's ranking, little has changed in the regional composition of the top 50.

Honduras' climb comes at the expense of Belgium, a move that in turn slightly improves CONCACAF's standing.