Malta lost four places in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking which was published on Thursday and is now ranked 132nd. Among the other UEFA countries, Malta is still ranked 48th.

Lying just ahead of Malta are Luxembourg (119, down 7) and Kazakhstan (124, down 6). Cyprus is now 142nd (down 12), followed by Liechtenstein (162, down 12), Faroe Islands (171, down 7), Andorra (200, down 1) and San Marino (207).

Malta’s next game is a friendly match against Slovakia on September 4 away from home.

Meanwhile there has been some movement in the last edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking before the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™: although the leading duo of Spain and Germany remain unchanged, Brazil will start the tournament in third place, having leapfrogged Portugal, while Argentina (5th, up 2) and Switzerland (6th, up 2) have each climbed two places and England (10th, up 1) have returned to the top ten at the expense of Greece (12th, down 2).

Special mention must be made of Palestine (94th, up 71), whose four wins and one draw secured them the AFC Challenge Cup together with participation in a continental final competition for the first time, the AFC Asian Cup, due to be held in Australia next January.

Photo: Copyright © Paul Zammit Cutajar