Defeating Argentina, Spain claims the world champion title in 2025

The final FIFA ranking for 2025 was officially published, with minimal shifts in the top 10, thereby clearly depicting the landscape of the top national teams before the start of the 2026 World Cup.

The FIFA ranking, which evaluates and ranks the strongest national teams worldwide, was updated for the last time in 2025, outlining the situation ahead of the 2026 World Cup. Notably, the changes in this release were insignificant as Lionel Messi with Argentina, Cristiano Ronaldo with Portugal, and the entire top 10 maintained their positions.

Although the international matches in March will mark the final stage of World Cup qualifiers, many international tournaments took place during the recent club season. This update mainly reflects the impact of the 2025 Arab Cup, held from November 25 to December 18.

Morocco, the champion and currently ranked 11th globally, gained 3.22 points. However, the African representative still falls 0.55 points short of overtaking Croatia to break into the top 10. Nevertheless, Morocco has widened the gap with 12th-ranked Italy, which has 1,702.06 points and continues to fight for a World Cup spot.

Conversely, Argentina, Portugal, and several other teams from South America (CONMEBOL) and Europe (UEFA) did not play any matches during this ranking period, leaving their total points unchanged. It is expected that the top 10 may see some reshuffling when Messi, Ronaldo, and other top stars return for the international fixtures in March.

The top 33 teams in the ranking remain unchanged. Behind them, Algeria has surpassed Egypt to climb to 34th place. Jordan (rising to 64th and a group opponent of Argentina at the World Cup), Vietnam (107th), and Singapore (148th) are among the few teams that improved their rankings significantly in this update.

Although the next FIFA Days are scheduled for March, the Africa Cup of Nations has officially started, with Morocco playing their first match this past Sunday. After the tournament ends on January 18, FIFA is expected to release another ranking update, but it will only affect African teams depending on the points they gain or lose.

The FIFA ranking was previously used to seed teams and organize groups for the 2026 World Cup draw. However, since the draw has been completed and groups finalized, even though six qualification spots remain open, future ranking updates will no longer impact the tournament, which is set to begin in June 2026.

Current FIFA top 10:

• Spain – 1,877.18 points

• Argentina – 1,873.33 points

• France – 1,870 points

• England – 1,834.12 points

• Brazil – 1,760.46 points

• Portugal – 1,760.38 points

• Netherlands – 1,756.27 points

• Belgium – 1,730.71 points

• Germany – 1,724.15 points

• Croatia – 1,716.88 points