Malta loses six places in FIFA Ranking

Following defeats to Angola and Portugal, Malta moved down six places in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking and is now 146th.
Among the other European countries, Malta is now 51st, that is third from bottom, just ahead of Andorra (201, down 6) and San Marino (203). In fact, Armenia climbed 25 places to 100th, Estonia eleven places to 103rd, Kazakhstan fifteen places to 121st, Faroe Islands forty one place to 122nd, Azerbaijan fourteen places to 125th and Liechtenstein eight places to 143rd.
Malta does not have any scheduled fixtures for the time being but friendly matches are expected to be played in the coming months. The draws for EURO 2012 will be held on February 7.
Meanwhile despite a total of 192 matches which were played since the last edition of the World Ranking, 147 of which were qualifying matches for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa, there were no changes at the very top, with Brazil retaining a narrow lead over Spain, the Netherlands and Italy. England remain in seventh place, whereas Germany (5th, down 1) and Russia (12th, down 6) have both lost ground. Besides Argentina (6th, up 2), Croatia (8th, up 1) and France (9th, up 1), this month’s big winners are Portugal (10th, up 7), who are back in the top 10 after a successful run of World Cup qualifying games.