BASSETERRE St. Kitts – IN the last edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Rankings for 2013, powerhouse Spain remains firmly atop and the ‘Sugar Boys’ from the twin-island Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis dropped two spots.
In a FIFA release of the latest soccer rankings the top 10 remain unchanged. Spain continues to lead the table ahead of Germany and Argentina, followed by Colombia, Portugal and Uruguay. Two Asian teams have this month achieved their highest-ever rankings: the Philippines (127th, up 6) and Guam (161st, up 8).
This marks the sixth consecutive time that Spain, the World and European champions, has topped the final rankings of the year, securing themselves once again the title of ‘Team of the Year’.
St. Kitts and Nevis, on the other hand, dropped two spots to 149 with 150 points just ahead of their fellow CFU and CONCACAF counterpart Guyana which stands at 150 with a total of 149 points.
The highest climber of 2013, thanks to nine wins, two draws and only one defeat, is Ukraine, which has collected no fewer than 312 points since December 2012, moving up 29 places to 18th and gaining the title of ‘Mover of the Year’ for the first time.
It has also been an extremely successful year for Armenia (35th, up 259 points since December 2012) and the USA (14th, up 237 points since December 2012).
A look at the changes in the regional composition of the top 50 since December 2012 shows that the number of teams from CONCACAF (five in the top 50, plus 2) and CAF (9, plus 1) have increased slightly at the expense of UEFA (26, minus 1), CONMEBOL (8, minus 1) and the AFC (2, minus 1), while the OFC still does not have any team in the top 50.
The results of 30 international matches have been taken into account for the current edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Rankings.
For 2013, the results of 918 matches have been taken into account, many of which were friendlies (415) and more than a third of which (347) were qualifying matches for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
