Malta loses four places in FIFA Ranking

After suffering identical 2-0 defeat to Georgia and Azerbaijan, Malta fell four places in the April FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking which was published on Thursday and is now 149th.

In Europe, Malta is just ahead of San Marino (194, down 13) and Andorra (204, down 3). The countries lying just ahead of Malta are Azerbaijan (115, up 24), Moldova (121, up 1), Liechtenstein (128, down 5), Kazakhstan (133, up 5), Luxembourg (137, down 1) and Georgia (138, down 12).

Malta will be meeting Bulgaria in another EURO qualifier on June 12 but a few days earlier, could play a friendly match in view of this game.

Meanwhile there have been some notable changes in the April edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking. Belgium (3rd, up 1) have achieved their highest-ever position following two wins in UEFA EURO 2016 qualifying, and now trail only Germany and Argentina.

Meanwhile Brazil (5th, up 1) and the Netherlands (6th, down 1) have traded places. The Brazilians defeated France (11th, down 3) 3-1, while the Netherlands had to settle for a draw against Turkey (52nd, up 4) in their EURO qualifier.

Switzerland (9th, up 3) and Spain (10th, up 1) have re-entered the top ten at the expense of France and Italy (13th, down 3) respectively.