Argentina, the reigning world champion and the first team to qualify for the 2026 World Cup from the South American qualifiers, retained its position at the top of the FIFA World Rankings released on Thursday.

Spain has moved into second place, displacing France.

Argentina gained 18.91 points after victories against Uruguay (1-0) and Brazil (4-1) in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.

Spain climbed by 1.37 points, thanks to its advancement to the UEFA Nations League semi-finals, overcoming the Netherlands in a penalty shootout after a 2-2 draw in the first leg and a 3-3 draw in the second leg.

Spain's rise pushed France down to third place, following a loss to Croatia (0-2) in the first leg of the Nations League before equalizing the outcome in the second leg by the same score, which led to further penalties.

England remained in fourth position ahead of Brazil, while the Netherlands moved up to sixth, overtaking Portugal, which secured a 5-2 victory over Denmark in a Nations League match after extra time, coming back from a 0-1 defeat in the first leg.

Belgium maintained its eighth position, followed by Italy at ninth and Germany at tenth.

Croatia advanced two places, now sitting in eleventh, while Morocco also climbed the rankings to twelfth, both overtaking Uruguay and Colombia.

Morocco solidified its lead among Arab nations by gaining 6.06 points through victories over Niger and Tanzania in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, positioning itself ahead of Egypt, which rose one spot to thirty-second, and Algeria, which also advanced one position to thirty-sixth.

Tunisia retained its forty-ninth position after climbing three spots.

Qatar experienced a significant decline, dropping seven places to fifty-five, while Saudi Arabia moved up one spot to fifty-eight.

Iraq fell three places to fifty-nine, recording the largest points loss of 29.46 points.

Bahrain also dropped three places to eighty-four, while Oman matched this progression by rising to seventy-seven.

Jordan and Syria each gained two spots to sixty-second and ninety-third, respectively.

The United Arab Emirates and Comoros both fell in rankings; the former is now sixty-fifth, while the latter is one hundred fifth.

No changes were observed for Palestine, Lebanon, Kuwait, and Yemen, remaining at one hundred first, one hundred twelfth, one hundred thirty-fourth, and one hundred fifty-eighth, respectively.

Mauritania, Sudan, and Djibouti fell one position to one hundred tenth, one hundred fourteenth, and one hundred ninety-second, respectively, while Libya and Somalia made headway, advancing to one hundred seventeenth and two hundred first.

A total of 245 international matches took place worldwide since the last ranking on December 19, which included World Cup qualifiers from South America, Africa, Oceania, and Asia, as well as the Nations League in Europe and CONCACAF.

Myanmar made the most significant advancement in the rankings, surging seven places to one hundred sixty-second.

The next FIFA World Rankings will be published on July 10.