Belgium have moved to the top spot.
The latest Fifa rankings have been released and the Republic of Ireland, unsurprisingly, have slipped a couple of places. Martin O’Neill’s side have dropped three places to be ranked 33rd in the world.
The national team haven’t won a competitive match since October 2017. Ireland lost 4-1 to Wales last month in Cardiff in their opening Uefa Nations League match. They followed that with a 1-1 draw against Poland in a friendly.
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Earlier this month, they played out a goalless draw with Denmark and lost 1-0 to Wales in Dublin. They have only recorded one victory this year, a 2-1 friendly win over the United States at the Aviva Stadium back in June.
So, all things considered, to be ranked 33rd in the world isn’t too bad. Ireland are also ranked ahead of some decent sides.
Iceland, Serbia, Russia, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Nigeria, Costa Rica and Egypt, all of whom were at the World Cup last summer, are all ranked below Ireland.
As are Northern Ireland and Turkey.
Scotland are ranked in 40th place. Wales have moved up one spot to 18th place, above Italy in 19th spot.
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Belgium have displaced world champions France at the top of the rankings.
Brazil are in third place, Croatia are fourth and England have moved up one place from sixth to fifth.
Denmark are the tenth best team in the world, according to Fifa’s rankings. Spain are in ninth place, Switzerland are in eighth, Portugal are in seventh and Uruguay take sixth place.
Germany, the 2014 world champions, have dropped to fourteenth place.
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For what it’s worth, the worst ranked national team in the world, all the way down in 211th place, are the Turks and Caicos Islands.
So, while the Irish team has had a difficult year, they are at least better than 178 other international teams in the world – according to Fifa’s rankings, anyway.
