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Argentina remain 1st, Germany rise to 2nd in FIFA world rankings

Xinhua, October 2, 2015 Adjust font size:

Argentina continued to lead the men's soccer world rankings and China moved three slots up to the 81st position in the FIFA world rankings released on Thursday.

Argentina still held on to their lead but the gap has been narrowed to just 18 points when Germany overtook Belgium to land second place with 1401 points.

Other climbers in the top 10 include Portugal (4th, up 2) and Spain (6th, up 5), while Colombia (5th, down 1) and Brazil (7th, down 2) have lost ground.

Spain's re-entry after three months is down to two wins in UEFA EURO 2016 qualifiers, while Wales (8th, up 1) and Austria (11th, up 2) have achieved their highest-ever rankings, with the latter having already qualified for next year's tournament.

The biggest movers in the top 50 are Norway (34th, up 35) and Cape Verde Islands (41st, up 15).

China made a small progress in the rankings after a goalless draw with Hong Kong, China in Shenzhen on Sept. 3 and a 3-0 win over Maldives in the World Cup qualifiers.

China will meet the strongest rival Qatar in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers in a week.

China ranked seventh in the continental table, one slot higher after overtaking Iraq.

Iran ranked 39th, maintaining the top place in Asia, followed by South Korea and Japan. Endi