Canada has moved up one place to No. 48 in the latest FIFA men's world rankings.
The top three are unchanged with Argentina, Canada's opponent in Thursday's Copa America tournament opener in Atlanta still No. 1 with France second and Belgium third.
There are changes elsewhere in the rest of the top 10, however. Brazil leapfrogs England to move into fourth place. Portugal, the Netherlands and Spain are unchanged after No. 5 England with Croatia moving up one spot to No. 9 at the expense of Italy, now 10th.
Peru and Chile, Canada's two other Group A opponents at Copa America, both moved up in the new rankings. Peru climbed one spot to No. 31 while Chile moved up two places to No. 40.
Under the new rankings, Canada ranks 11th among the 16 competing Copa America teams.
The Canadian men's highest-ever ranking was No. 33, reached in February 2022.
It was a busy period with AFC, CAF and CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers and warm-up matches ahead of Euro 2024, Copa America and the OFC Men’s Nations Cup. FIFA says there were 187 matches played since the last rankings in April with Canada taking part in two of them losing 4-0 to the Netherlands and drawing France 0-0.
Liberia was the biggest mover, up 10 places to No. 142 with the team known as the Lone Stars unbeaten in 2024. Others moving up include No. 97 Namibia (up nine), No. 110 North Korea (up eight), No. 103 Mozambique (up seven), No. 121 Sudan (up six) and No. 104 Madagascar and No. 198 Gibraltar (both up five).
The U.S. is unchanged at No. 11 atop the rankings in CONCACAF, which covers North and Central America and the Caribbean. Mexico fell one place to No. 15 while Panama climbed two rungs to No. 43.
Other movers in CONCACAF were No. 78 Honduras (up four), No. 130 Nicaragua (up five), No. 86 Haiti and No. 87 Curaçao (both up four).
Equatorial Guinea suffered the biggest drop, down 10 places to No. 98.
The next editions of the ranks will be released July 18.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 20, 2024.
Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press
