Malta lost one place in the latest edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking which was published on Thursday and is now ranked 128th.

Among the other European countries, Malta is still ranked 48th. Lying just ahead of Malta are Georgia (103), Lithuania (104), Latvia (109), Luxembourg (112) and Kazakhstan (118). Behind Malta are Cyprus (130, down 2), Liechtenstein (150, down 1), Faroe Islands (164), Andorra (199) and San Marino (207).

Photo: Copyright © Joe Borg

Malta will be in action on June 4 in a friendly match against Gibraltar in Portugal. Another friendly match is scheduled in September against Slovakia before facing Croatia in the first match from the EURO 2016 qualifiers.

Meanwhile international football stadiums have continued to see little activity before the final round of friendlies ahead of the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil, and the May edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking reflects the results of just 13 new matches. No fewer than 143 teams have retained their April ranking.

There has been some notable movement in the top ten, however, with Brazil climbing two places to fourth to lead the pack of four South American teams ahead of Colombia (5th, down 1), Uruguay (6th, down 1) and Argentina (7th, down 1). It is Brazil’s best position on the global ladder since July 2011.

This tightly packed quartet now has the European leading trio of Spain (1st, unchanged), Germany (2nd, unchanged) and Portugal (3rd, unchanged) firmly in its sights. La Roja have now held the top spot since September 2011.