Fifa's World Rankings for April 2026 were released in real time from FIFA HQ in Zurich in Switzerland following a raft of play off games for World Cup 2026 plus a round of international friendlies.
The second rankings of the year with just two months to go to World Cup 2026 saw some significant changes in the top 20 teams since January.
France leapfrog Euro 2024 winners Spain and 2022 World Cup winners Argentina second to top the rankings for the first time since September 2018. England are unchanged in fourth despite drawing with Uruguay and losing to Japan in friendlies at Wembley.
Next comes Portugal, Brazil, The Netherlands, "losing" Afcon finalists Morocco, Belgium, then Germany in 10th. Croatia are 11th with Euro 2020 winners Italy 12th, despite failing to make the finals in the USA, Mexico and Canada. Afcon "winners" Senegal drop 2 spots to 14th.
Wales are 37th. The USA are in 16th place.
Australia are unchanged in 27th place; Japan, who have already qualified for World Cup 2026 as have Australia, are in 18th position. South Korea are 25th.
Scotland who have qualified for the World Cup for the first time since 1998 are in the 43rd spot after losing to both Japan and Ivory Coast in friendlies. The Republic of Ireland are still in 59th place, while Northern Ireland are in 70th. The lowest-ranked team is San Marino in 211th place with Eritrea previously unranked now 184th.
| Ranking | Team |
| 1 | France |
| 2 | Spain |
| 3 | Argentina |
| 4 | England |
| 5 | Portugal |
| 6 | Brazil |
| 7 | The Netherlands |
| 8 | Morocco |
| 9 | Belgium |
| 10 | Germany |
| 11 | Croatia |
| 12 | Italy |
| 13 | Colombia |
| 14 | Senegal |
| 15 | Mexico |
| 16 | USA |
| 17 | Uruguay |
| 18 | Japan |
| 19 | Switzerland |
| 20 | Denmark |
| 21 | Iran |
| 22 | Turkey |
| 23 | Ecuador |
| 24 | Austria |
| 25 | Korea Republic |
| 26 | Nigeria |
| 27 | Australia |
| 28 | Algeria |
| 29 | Egypt |
| 30 | Canada |
| 31 | Norway |
| 32 | Ukraine |
| 33 | Panama |
| 34 | Côte d'Ivoire |
| 35 | Poland |
| 36 | Russia |
| 37 | Wales |
| 38 | Sweden |
| 39 | Serbia |
| 40 | Paraguay |
| 41 | Czechia |
| 42 | Hungary |
| 43 | Scotland |
| 44 | Tunisia |
| 45 | Cameroon |
| 46 | Congo DR |
| 47 | Greece |
| 48 | Slovakia |
| 49 | Venezuela |
| 50 | Uzbekistan |
| 51 | Costa Rica |
| 52 | Mali |
| 53 | Peru |
| 54 | Chile |
| 55 | Qatar |
| 56 | Romania |
| 57 | Iraq |
| 58 | Slovenia |
| 59 | Republic of Ireland |
| 60 | South Africa |
| 61 | Saudi Arabia |
| 62 | Burkina Faso |
| 63 | Jordan |
| 64 | Albania |
| 65 | Bosnia-Herzegovina |
| 66 | Honduras |
| 67 | North Macedonia |
| 68 | United Arab Emirates |
| 69 | Cabo Verde (Cape Verde Islands) |
| 70 | Northern Ireland |
| 71 | Jamaica |
| 72 | Georgia |
| 73 | Finland |
| 74 | Ghana |
| 75 | Iceland |
| 76 | Bolivia |
| 77 | Israel |
| 78 | Kosovo |
| 79 | Oman |
| 80 | Guinea |
| 81 | Montenegro |
| 82 | Curacao (formerly Netherlands Antilles) |
| 83 | Haiti |
| 84 | Syria |
| 85 | New Zealand |
| 86 | Bulgaria |
| 87 | Gabon |
| 88 | Uganda |
| 89 | Angola |
| 90 | Benin |
| 91 | Bahrain |
| 92 | Zambia |
| 93 | Thailand |
| 94 | China |
| 95 | Palestine |
| 96 | Guatemala |
| 97 | Belarus |
| 98 | Luxembourg |
| 99 | Vietnam |
| 100 | El Salvador |
| 101 | Mozambique |
| 102 | Trinidad & Tobago |
| 103 | Tajikistan |
| 104 | Madagascar |
| 105 | Equatorial Guinea |
| 106 | Armenia |
| 107 | Kyrgyz Republic |
| 108 | Lebanon |
| 109 | Comoros |
| 110 | Kazakhstan |
| 111 | Kenya |
| 112 | Libya |
| 113 | Tanzania |
| 114 | Niger |
| 115 | Mauritania |
| 116 | Gambia |
| 117 | Sudan |
| 118 | Korea DPR |
| 119 | Sierra Leone |
| 120 | Namibia |
| 121 | Togo |
| 122 | Indonesia |
| 123 | Faroe Islands |
| 124 | Azerbaijan |
| 125 | Suriname |
| 126 | Cyprus |
| 127 | Malawi |
| 128 | Rwanda |
| 129 | Estonia |
| 130 | Zimbabwe |
| 131 | Nicaragua |
| 132 | Guinea-Bissau |
| 133 | Congo |
| 134 | Kuwait |
| 135 | Philippines |
| 136 | India |
| 137 | Latvia |
| 138 | Malaysia |
| 139 | Central African Republic |
| 140 | Liberia |
| 141 | Turkmenistan |
| 142 | Burundi |
| 143 | Dominican Republic |
| 144 | Ethiopia |
| 145 | Lesotho |
| 146 | Botswana |
| 147 | Singapore |
| 148 | Lithuania |
| 149 | Yemen |
| 150 | Guyana |
| 151 | New Caledonia |
| 152 | St Kitts and Nevis |
| 153 | Solomon Islands |
| 154 | Fiji |
| 155 | Hong Kong |
| 156 | Puerto Rico |
| 157 | Tahiti |
| 158 | Myanmar |
| 159 | Moldova |
| 160 | Vanuatu |
| 161 | Malta |
| 162 | Antigua & Barbuda |
| 163 | Grenada |
| 164 | Cuba |
| 165 | Swaziland (Eswatini) |
| 166 | Bermuda |
| 167 | St Lucia |
| 168 | Papua New Guinea |
| 169 | Afghanistan |
| 170 | South Sudan |
| 171 | St Vincent and the Grenadines |
| 172 | Maldives |
| 173 | Andorra |
| 174 | Chinese Taipei |
| 175 | Montserrat |
| 176 | Nepal |
| 177 | Cambodia |
| 178 | Mauritius |
| 179 | Barbados |
| 180 | Belize |
| 181 | Bangladesh |
| 182 | Dominica |
| 183 | Chad |
| 184 | Eritrea |
| 185 | Laos |
| 186 | Bhutan |
| 187 | Mongolia |
| 188 | Cook Islands |
| 189 | Aruba |
| 190 | Samoa |
| 191 | Sri Lanka |
| 192 | American Samoa |
| 193 | Brunei Darussalam |
| 194 | Macau |
| 195 | Caymen Islands |
| 196 | São Tomé e Príncipe |
| 197 | Djibouti |
| 198 | Somalia |
| 199 | Tonga |
| 200 | Timor Leste |
| 201 | Guam |
| 202 | Pakistan |
| 203 | Gibraltar |
| 204 | Seychelles |
| 205 | Turks & Caicos Islands |
| 206 | Liechtenstein |
| 207 | Bahamas |
| 208 | British Virgin Islands |
| 209 | US Virgin Islands |
| 210 | Anguilla |
| 211 | San Marino |
Source: www.fifa.com
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The formula for the SUM algorithm is as follows: P = Pbefore + I * (W - We)
Pbefore: Points before the match I: importance of match
I= 05 Friendly matches played outside of International Match Calendar windows
I= 10 Friendly matches played during International Match Calendar windows
I= 15 Group phase matches of Nations League competitions
I= 25 Play-off and final matches of Nations League competitions
I= 25 Qualification matches for Confederations final competitions and for FIFA World Cup final competitions
I= 35 Confederation final competition matches up until the QF stage
I= 40 Confederation final competition matches from the QF stage onwards; all FIFA Confederations Cup matches
I= 50 FIFA World Cup final competition matches up until QF stage
I= 60 FIFA World Cup final competition matches from QF stage onwards W: result of the match
1 = win; 0.5 = draw; 0 = defeat
We: expected result of the match
We = 1 / (10(-dr/600) + 1)
With dr=difference in ratings of the two playing teams, i.e. dr = [Pbefore of Team A - Pbefore of Team B]
Match Result: - Win-Draw-Defeat = 3 points - 1 points - 0 points
Importance of match - 1 (friendly match) to 4 (FIFA World Cup™)
Strength of opponent - Position in world ranking (no. 1 = 2.00, no. 30 = 1.70, no. 118 = 0.82 etc.) Formula: [200 minus Position] / 100
Regional strength - Based on results in last three FIFA World Cups (wins per confederation per match)
Period - Since the change to the FIFA World Ranking procedure which came into effect in August 2006 the rankings will no longer take into account the last eight years of results only the last four years of results.
Last four years, gradual decline in importance of results: 100%- 50% - 30% - 20%
Number of matches considered per year - Average points gained from all matches in last 12 months (minimum: 5 matches)