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Canada jumps 38 spots in FIFA rankings
Jun 13, 2007 09:31 AM
ZURICH, Switzerland (CP-AP) – Canada has climbed 38 spots in the FIFA world soccer rankings after a pair of wins at the Gold Cup this month.
Victories over Costa Rica and Haiti at the tournament boosted the Canadian squad from No. 94 in May to No. 56 in the June rankings released Wednesday.
Only Armenia, which moved up 48 spots, had a bigger improvement than Canada in the rankings.
The Canadian men, sandwiched between Honduras and South Africa with 539 points, have rebounded after reaching an all-time low 103rd in March. The Canadian high was No. 40 in December 1996.
Meanwhile, World Cup champion Italy kept its No. 1 place while France overtook Brazil to climb to the No. 2 spot.
Brazil was third, while Germany climbed one spot to fourth – its highest ranking in four years – and Argentina fell two spots to fifth.
France and Germany both benefited from recent wins in European Championship qualifying, FIFA said.
Italy has 1,653 points, France has 1,585, Brazil 1,484, Germany 1,467 and Argentina 1,373.
Portugal, Spain, England, the Netherlands and Czech Republic round up the top 10.
The United States climbed 13 spots to No. 16 thanks to a strong start in the CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament. Serbia and Ghana both moved up nine spots, while Sweden and Ivory Coast gained five spots each.
Scotland, which had climbed to its best ranking ever last month, fell nine spots to No. 23.