Malta climbed one place in the Coca-Cola / FIFA Men’s World Ranking which was published on Thursday and is now ranked 171st.

Malta is still fourth from bottom in Europe, lying just behind Moldova (164) and ahead of Gibraltar (198), Liechtenstein (200) and San Marino (208).

The next competitive fixture for Malta will be on September 12 when Malta hosts North Macedonia at Ta’ Qali in another EURO qualifier but before this game, a friendly match will be played, possibly against Gibraltar.

Meanwhile a total of 62 matches have been played since the last edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking in June, with 25 of those matches taking place in the final competition of the Concacaf Gold Cup. The other 37 matches were in the SAFF Cup (AFC) and COSAFA Cup (CAF), two tournaments that are considered friendly competitions for the purposes of the FIFA ranking.

There are no changes at all in the top ten, which is made up solely of European and South American teams. Argentina (1st) remain at the top of the pile, with the other two podium places occupied by France (2nd) and Brazil (3rd), closely followed by England (4th), Belgium (5th) and Croatia (6th).