Despite not playing any international matches over the past four weeks, Malta climbed four places in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking which was published on Thursday and is now ranked 145th.

However Malta is still ranked third from bottom in Europe, just ahead of San Marino (192, up 2) and Andorra (204). Lying just ahead of Malta are Azerbaijan (115, up 1), Moldova (124, down 3), Liechtenstein (129, down 2), Luxembourg (131, up 6), Kazakhstan (133, up 1) and Georgia (139).

Malta hosts Lithuania in a friendly match on Monday before facing Bulgaria in a EURO qualifier on Friday.

Meanwhile the current edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking reveals two changes in the top ten, with Belgium overtaking Argentina to move into second place, their highest-ever position since the launch of the world ranking. The other change sees France return to the top ten in ninth place at the expense of Switzerland (11th, down 2). As none of the teams in the top 20 played a match last month, all movements in terms of points and positions are down to a devaluation of past results.