Following the defeats to Latvia and Israel, Malta lost four places in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking and is now 158th.

Malta has no scheduled fixtures but a friendly match is expected to be played in February.

Among the other European countries, lying just ahead of Malta are Iceland are ranked 108th (down 2), Azerbaijan 117 (down 20), Luxembourg 118 (down 4), Cyprus 120 (down 34), Faroe Islands 122 (up 4), Moldova 123 (down 1), Liechtenstein 126 (down 8) and Kazakhstan 129 (up 3). Andorra and San Marino are still 203rd.

World champions Spain are still on top, although defeat in Buenos Aires has seen them lose a quarter of their lead. Germany (3rd) and Brazil (4th) have traded places, as have England (6th) and Uruguay (7th), with the two European teams benefiting from their successful start to UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying. Norway (14th, up 8) and Slovakia (16th, up 11) have both climbed into the top 20 for the same reason. Russia (25th, down 9) and France (27th, down 6) have lost considerable ground, in contrast to Turkey (21st, up 7), who are on the rise again.

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