Portugal go fourth

The latest edition of the world football rankings reveals a number of changes in the top ten.

Spain continue to lead the way ahead of Brazil and the Netherlands, but there is considerable movement in the lower half of the top ten, fifa.com reports.

Portugal (4th, up 2) have overtaken Italy (5th, down 1) and Germany (6th, down 1), while England (7th, up 1) continue to climb the global ladder and have swapped places with France (8th, down 1). Croatia (10th, up 1) have returned to the top ten after a two-month absence.

Australia (19th, up 4) have leapt into the top 20 following their victory over Indonesia during qualification for the AFC Asian Cup 2011.

Among the top 50 teams, Norway (24th, up 9) and Turkey (35th, up 6) have also made significant ground thanks to their wins over World Cup participants in early March.

Norway got the better of Slovakia, while Turkey emerged triumphant over Honduras.

However, the team that has made the most progress in terms of points and places in this month's ranking is Senegal (72nd, up 22), who were too strong for former European champions Greece in a recent friendly match.

Malta no.158

The Maltese national team continues to fare badly in the world rankings after slipping to no.158, eight places down from the previous list issued by FIFA.

Malta has 102 points, one behind Sri Lanka and on a par with Bangladesh. Now, the only UEFA members behind Malta in the world list are fellow minnows Andorra (no.201) and San Marino (no.202).

Luxembourg climbed two places to no.124, the Faroe Islands slid to no.125 after losing seven places, Kazakhstan are no.129 and Liechtenstein retained the 151 spot in the rankings.

FIFA said the majority of changes in this month's rankings was due to the devaluation of results from last year. In particular, the latest edition reflects the devaluation of the results of the many World Cup qualification games played a year ago.

In all, the results of 47 matches have been taken into account in the latest ranking list.

TOP 20 TEAMS

1. Spain 1,602 points; 2. Brazil 1,589; 3. Netherlands 1,261; 4. Portugal 1,214; 5. Italy 1,183; 6. Germany 1,157; 7. England 1,120; 8. France 1,077; 9. Argentina 1,075; 10. Croatia 1,051; 11. Greece 1,032; 12. Russia 1,009; 13. Chile 974; 14. Egypt 967; 15. Serbia 950; 16. USA 948; 17. Mexico 921; 18. Uruguay 902; 19. Australia 898; 20. Cameroon 887.