The Malta national team moved up six places in the latest FIFA rankings following a bright showing in this month’s FIFA 2022 World Cup qualifiers.

In the latest list published by FIFA, the national team rose to 171st in the world on 963 points.

Malta’s rise in the rankings owes much to their sparkling showing in the 3-0 win over Cyprus at the National Stadium on September 1.

Two goals from Cain Attard and another from Joseph Mbong earned Devis Mangia’s team their first win in the 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign as well as the country’s first-ever success on home soil in these qualifiers.

After that victory over Cyprus, the national team continued to show progress with gallant performances that saw the team suffered a 1-0 defeat in Slovenia and then lost to Russia 2-0 in Moscow.

The national team is currently above other European nations such as Moldova, who are ranked 180th, and Liechtenstein 188th, Gibraltar 197th and San Marino who are bottom of the list in 210st.

Malta will have the chance to pick up more valuable points next month when they host Slovenia on October 8 and then travel to Cyprus on October 11.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.