Italy have officially surpassed England and climbed to fourth in the FIFA ranking after finishing third in the UEFA Nations League this month.
The Azzurri CT Roberto Mancini will be more than happy with the new FIFA ranking, confirming the growth of the Italian national team.
Mancini’s men finished third in the UEFA Nations League Finals, as they lost to Spain in the semi-finals before overcoming Belgium, to claim third.
Belgium are still first in the ranking, with Brazil second and France third in almost 40 points better off than Italy.
The European Champions want a place among the top seven in the world, as it will give them a better seeding for the World Cup 2022 draw next year.
England, Argentina, Spain, Portugal, Mexico and Denmark complete the top 10.
FIFA Ranking – Top 10:
- Belgium – 1832.33p
2. Brazil – 1820.36p
3. France – 1779.24p
4. Italy – 1750.52p
5. England – 150.16p
6. Argentina – 1738.79p
7. Spain – 1687.66p
8. Portugal – 1681.73p
9. Mexico – 1672.92p
10. Denmark – 1668.98p
Ranking FIFA, l’Italia ora è quarta. La Francia torna sul podio, l’Inghilterra perde 2 posti https://t.co/4eeoicRtaK
— TUTTOmercatoWEB (@TuttoMercatoWeb) October 21, 2021
Only Spain and France are superior. Ranking places or no ranking places, only those two are superior.
@Rosario. Spain is not superior to Italy just because they lost a game with a weakened team. Spain’s performances have been horrible for over 5 years now.
Only France & Brazil should be ranked above Italy.
Please stop giving credence to these ridiculous and pathetic FIFA rankings!
I say that we’re certainly within the top 5 nations in the world at the moment, I too also think both France and Brazil are probably joint equal in terms of best in the world.
Then in no particular order i’d say its Italy, Spain and Argentina round out the top 5.
@Cypher.
Spain 100% superior to us. They dominated us in the euro semi finals, play a wonderful brand of football that their entire system subscribes to, and were totally deserving of wins in both matches. I can say that without being embarrassed, because they are a great footballing country. They stick to their philosophy, way of playing, and don’t bend it for anyone.
Brazil? They have no clinical strikers like Italy…… even an attacking midfielder and regista.
How is Belgium #1, they have never won anything. What a joke
Think yourselfs lucky arguing over 2nd 3rd or 4th
You good be Scottish and would kill to be in top 20 🙂
@Gash67
You dominated England at Wembley, and deserved to win.
Finally, England is soooo overages, they get walk throughs to the semis/finals of these tournaments…always in the easiest group.
@Rosario
You haven fallen into the trap of thinking that if a team has more possession then they deserve to win. No team deserves to win unless you put more balls in the goal than the other team. Spain are boring and they hold possession because they know their defence is rubbish.
In the semi-final, Spain & Italy had five shots each on target. How is that being superior?
If anything, it shows how dreadful Spain are that their possession based football hasn’t produced any trophies for over ten years now.
@Tony.
When they scored their equaliser thru Morata. It was 100% deserved. Spain might like clinical players like torres and villa, but they still create chances aplenty. They had multiple opportunity to kill the game – misses by Olmo, Moreno and Oyazabal. In the nations semi final, they again were creative, effective whilst in possession and getting the ball back quick when lost. They scored great goals all created thru moving the opposition around and creating pockets. If you can’t see that, then I’m v.sorry.
Technically, they are a step ahead. Pretty much every single one of their players can keep ball, pass and move. That’s why we couldn’t get near them, and forced to defend for our lives.
@Tony.
Brazil didn’t win a world cup throughout the 80’s and yet played amazing football. Netherlands never won a world cup, but bar the crop of 2010, they’ve always tried to play football the right way. Italy’s golden crop of the late 80’s and 80’s didn’t win a single trophy, but the squad was always filled with top class players. The fine line between winning a trophy and not winning one is very fine. This is a country that won 3 titles in a row. They were bound to have a generational shift and change of era’s.
Like I said, as an Italian, I can hold my head high in terms of how we play and conduct ourselves. But at the same time, I have to also recognize and respect those who are also great. I have immense respect for spanish football, and Luis Enrique has shown himself to be a top coach. There is no embarrassment in recognizing quality.
@Rosario
Sorry but Spain are not ahead technically. It’s absolute nonsense!
Italy did not win a trophy in the 80s? Hello? Think again!
You can sugar coat the way Spain play. You do not understand why Spain changed their style to the boring style they have now. If you are unsure of the answer then let me tell you. It’s because without having most of the possession, they have absolutely zero chance of winning. Full stop!
You seriously think that a team that averages 75% possession each game and yet does not win a trophy have technically superior players? Think again please.
Ok guys nobody is saying spain does not have good players. We all know they have good players Let’s take for example that 17 yr old kid he brought onto the pith (they insist should be watered BTW and we always tell me them heck no) For example their coach said he admired Veratti and then marked him with a 17 yr old. What he really meant to suggest/insult is how slow Veratti is and that Veratti has trouble with quick nimble Spanish players and watch how my lad will run circles around him, in fact once Veratti was nutmegged by such a player and again was from Spain. Which leads me to the main point here and only an expert can know this-I have been watching Spain behavior since 2008 and there is a pattern.
What you are sorely missing in your assessment is spain is very well known for histrionics and antics. In Nations League a red card for asking a ref what’s going on here with 1 man down for 50+mins you think that is normal? We see rubbish like this every time Spain takes the field with italy. Spain belongs in the ranking where they are for a reason and Italy is up atop because they are a great team-obviously need improvement such as nimble players only in midfield and clinical. Once Italy corrects the clinical problem that is also seen in Serie A no one will be able to touch Italy for a 10 yr cycle. We are introducing training regiment to address the striker clinical issue that has often plagued Italy. Like Lippi said It also take a bit of luck but we need to be more clinical and they we will truly be no 1. BTW possession does not score goes look at Italy in England final did they score 3-0 no. Possession can only go so far.
@ Jarod
Stop referring to the FIFA rankings. I could not care less about them. Stop thinking that they are a judgement on who is the best team. A tournament is the way to decide the best team and Italy proved that they are the best team in Europe! People can claim that Spain are this, or France are this, but Italy won Euro 2020!