After the September international match day, the FIFA national team's instant ranking was updated again. The national team's ranking without competition tasks remained unchanged, while the top ten rankings changed greatly: Argentina gave up first, Brazil fell out of the top five, and Italy returned to the top ten! What exactly happened? Let's take a look together!

Argentina gives up the top spot

Argentina has been ranked first since April 6, 2023, but in the 18th round of the World Cup qualifiers, Argentina 0-1 Ecuador, qualifying for the top spot but ended with a loss. Reporter Silvio Maverino reported: Argentina will drop to third after the next issue of the world ranking update! Messi was absent in this game, Argentina scored 8 shots and 0 shots in the whole game, Ecuador scored 4 shots in the right direction, and Valencia won the victory with a penalty kick.

At this point, all the South American World Cup qualifiers were over. Messi scored 8 goals in 12 games and was elected as the top scorer in this year's South American World Cup qualifiers. This is also Messi's first time winning the South American World Cup qualifiers. In addition, Messi has three assists, and J Ronaldo is the assist king! The last round of the South American World Cup qualifiers has all ended, and 6 direct quotas and 1 intercontinental play-off place have been settled. The six teams directly to the 2026 World Cup in South America are: Argentina, Ecuador, Colombia, Uruguay, Brazil, and Paraguay! The quota for the Intercontinental Playoffs in South America was won by Bolivia!

Argentine Football Association Chairman Tapia presented a commemorative jersey to De Paul after the game, congratulating him on achieving the milestone. In the World Cup qualifier against Ecuador, De Paul started to play, completing his 80th appearance in the Argentina national team. The Miami International midfielder made his debut in the Argentina national team on October 11, 2018! He contributed 2 goals and 11 assists, helping the team win 1 World Cup, 2 Cups of America, and 1 European and American Cup. Argentine midfielder De Paul said in an interview after the game: "There are always areas that need improvement and correction. The game is a bit difficult for us, but I think we have the advantage in the second half."

Argentine 37-year-old defender Otamendi was interviewed by Telefe and confirmed that he would withdraw from the national team after next year's World Cup. In this game, 18-year-old Mastantono appeared on the bench in the second half of Argentina's No. 10, becoming the youngest No. 10 in Argentina's history. Mastantono played for 28 minutes, with 0 shots on target, 2 passes and all succeeded, 10 lost the ball, 35 touches, 22 passes, and a pass success rate of 81.8%. He faced the ground twice and was defeated once, and he still had a lot of room for growth!

It is worth mentioning that Ecuador conceded only 2 goals in 15 consecutive World Cups in South America to set a game record. The two conceded goals were Venezuelan Gadis and Brazilian Rodrigo. The previous record was Brazil and Argentina jointly maintained 3 goals in 15 consecutive games! This World Cup qualifier Ecuador conceded only 5 goals in 18 games in South America, which is considered to be a "first wall in South America". The five goals they conceded were 0-1 Argentina, 2-1 Uruguay, 2-1 Bolivia, 0-1 Brazil, and 2-1 Venezuela. This is also the first time Ecuador has defeated Argentina in 2015 (2-0 win in the 2015 World Cup qualifiers), and it is also the second time in the team's history to defeat the defending World Cup champion at that time, the first time was to defeat Brazil 1-0 in 2004.

After losing to Ecuador, Argentina ended its 2026 World Cup South American qualifiers and received bad news: they will lose their FIFA ranking No. 1 since April 2023. The official rankings of the new issue will be announced on September 17. According to Argentine media TyC, the Argentine team will also receive good news, which is to avoid the curse of the world's number one never touching the World Cup championship. Judging from historical experience, the team ranked No. 1 in the world has never won the World Cup championship.

Argentina topped the list with 1885.36 points in August, Spain followed closely with 1867.09 points, and France ranked third with 1862.03 points. However, the result of the World Cup qualifiers in September changed the situation, with Argentina losing more points because it lost to Ecuador, which ranked 25th, and was surpassed by Spain and France.

Brazil fell out of the top five

In the World Cup in South America, Brazil lost 0-1 to Bolivia. Among all the 54 points that can be won, Brazil only scored 28 points, accounting for only 51%, and finally ranked 5th! At this point, Brazil has been overtaken by Portugal to 6th in the latest world ranking! World Sports said that Ancelotti did not call on Vinicius, Rodrigo and Militon on this international match day, but allowed Rafinia to play an insignificant half-hour game on the Bolivian Plateau at an altitude of 4,100 meters.

Ancelotti has led the team to participate in 4 games since coaching Brazil. This is the first time that his Brazilian team has lost and also their first time to concede the ball. Ancelotti has coached Brazil so far, with a record of 2 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss. Brazil's performance in this World Cup qualifier was not satisfactory. The team lost to his old rival Argentina in both rounds, including a 1-4 loss, and also to Uruguay, Colombia, Paraguay and Bolivia respectively.

Before this round of the game, Bolivia ranked 8, one point behind Venezuela. Bolivia needs to meet two conditions to advance, and win Brazil by itself, while Venezuela cannot win! In the end, Bolivia created a miracle. Venezuela once held the game 1-0 and 2-1, but was eventually defeated by Colombia. He lost 3-6 at home and missed the World Cup play-offs. But Bolivia is also the most successful! Currently, the 6 teams competing for two playoff spots have been confirmed: Bolivia and New Caledonia, and the 4 teams in Asia, Africa, Central and North America and the Caribbean (2 seats) have not been confirmed.

According to the prediction of the well-known website football meets data, Venezuela's probability of winning the 7th place in the South American region in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers is 88%. Brazil has a probability of more than 70% ranking second! Because Brazil's chance of winning in Bolivia is as high as 61%! It was against this background that Colombia defeated Venezuela 6-3, and Venezuela missed the World Cup again. According to relevant statistics, 9 of the 10 member states of the South American Football Federation have advanced to the World Cup, and Venezuela is still the only team in the South American Football Federation that has not played in the World Cup! Venezuela is really too difficult!

Since the 1996 South American qualifiers adopted a double round-robin system for 10 teams at home and away, Brazil has never scored less than 30 points in the event. His worst performance was in the 2002 World Cup qualifiers. Although the team encountered difficulties in advancing, they finally won the championship for the fifth time in the South Korea-Japan World Cup. Neymar was not selected for this Brazilian roster. It is still unknown whether Neymar, 34, will be selected for the Brazilian World Cup next year. After the game, the 33-year-old Brazilian scorer Neymar posted a message to congratulate Brazil on his advance to the World Cup and strive for the sixth championship.

Italy has mixed joys and sorrows, and FIFA ranking has risen to 10th

In the two World Cup qualifiers in September, Italy won two consecutive victories, currently ranked second in the group with 3 wins in 4 games and 9 points! The international competition day ended, and in the 6th round of the World Cup Group I in the World Cup qualifiers, Norway defeated Moldova 11-1, leading the way with 15 points!

In this round of World Cup qualifiers, Italy narrowly defeated Israel 5-4 away. This is the first time Italy has won with 4 goals in 105 years. The last time was France 9-4 in the 1920 friendly match! This is also the first time that the visiting team has won 5-4 in 8,868 games in the World Cup qualifiers, and the home team's 5-4 victory only occurred between Saudi Arabia and Syria in 1989.

Of course, Gattuso made full firepower on Italy's first international match day after taking office, beating Estonia 5-0 and Israel 5-4. This is the first time that the Italian team has scored at least 5 goals in two consecutive games! However, Italy, which scored many goals and conceded many goals, has won 3 wins and 1 loss in the same group as Norway, with only 5 goals in 4 games, and their losses were 0-3 losses! Italy wants to surpass Norway, which has a complete victory, and the goal difference is too great that they can only expect Norway to make mistakes. If it finally ranks 2, Italy will participate in the playoffs again, and the Blues have fallen in the playoffs for two consecutive times.

Gatuso said: "Incredible 8 days, thank you very much to the players, I'm going to the locker room now to thank them, but if we're going to achieve something important, we certainly need to improve, we know that."

The Italian team's value ranks fifth in the world in this issue, and is currently ranked tenth in the world, up one place from the previous issue, returning to the top ten in the world! Italy has missed two World Cups in 2018 and 22 years. If it misses its qualification for the World Cup again, it will be three consecutive games.

Spain tops the world

In the early morning of September 8, Beijing time, in the second round of the World Cup Group E in the European qualifiers, Spain swept Turkey 6-0 away! Turkey ranks 27th in the world, with a total value of 385 million euros. It is also the second-rate national team in European football. Stars such as Cialhanoglu, Guerre, and Irdiz are not absent, but they face Spain with 6 goals at home! Spain once again showed strong dominance!

Pedri is now worth 140 million euros, making him the second highest-priced player in the Spanish team, second only to Yamal, who is 200 million euros! Since Dela Fuente took charge, Spain has averaged 2.69 goals per game, with the third largest number of Spanish coaches in the past 10, with only less goals per game than Moreno and Lopetegui.

Spain is currently only 2 games away from the team's official unbeaten record. Since losing in Scotland in March 2023, Spain has remained unbeaten in 27 consecutive official games (22 wins and 5 draws)! Pedri has directly participated in 4 goals (2 goals and 2 assists) for all competitions for the Spanish team in 2025, tying Nico (2 goals and 2 assists) and Yamal (3 goals and 1 assist). Oyasabal, second only to 7 goals in the national team (4 goals and 3 assists), and Spain is full of stars, which is worth looking forward to!

France and Portugal both achieved two consecutive victories, and their ranking continued to rise

France has never reached the World Cup final before 1998; and in these 24 years, it has participated in the championship four times. Even the craziest dream, I'm afraid I won't think so! After winning the World Cup in 2018, France advanced to the World Cup finals again in 2022. In the United States, Canada and Mexico, France is still the favorite team to win the championship!

In the second round of the Group F in the European qualifiers, Portugal defeated Hungary 3-2 away, Ronaldo scored a goal to top the World Cup historical scorer list. Ronaldo also expanded his national team's goals to 141 goals, continuing to lead the national team's historical scorer list, leading second Messi 27 goals! In terms of the F Group standings, Portugal led the way with 6 points in two consecutive wins, and Hungary ranked third with 1 point. So far, Portugal has officially surpassed Brazil and rose to fifth in the world!

FIFA latest ranking list

Time goes back to September 20, 2018, FIFA announced the latest national team rankings. Belgium rose one to tie for the top spot with France, followed by Brazil and Croatia. The top 10 teams did not change significantly. The national football team fell one place compared to the previous period, ranking 76th in the world, but there was no change in Asian rankings and still ranked seventh in Asia! In that issue, Argentina FIFA ranked 11, Italy FIFA ranked 20, and Spain FIFA ranked 9! Seven years have passed in a blink of an eye, let’s look at the final world ranking:

FIFA national team instant ranking has been updated (the official ranking will be updated on September 18), and the rankings of the top ten teams have changed. Spain successfully rose to the top with its outstanding performance in recent times, with France following behind it at No. 2. Argentina, which had previously ranked high, fell to third place this time, England remained in fourth place, and Portugal overtook Brazil, rising to fifth place, and Brazil fell to sixth place. The Netherlands, Belgium, Croatia and Italy ranked 7th to 10th in turn!

In the AFC's real-time ranking, Japan led Asia with the 19th ranking in the world, with Iran (21), South Korea (23), and Australia (25) following closely, occupying the top 4 in Asia. Uzbekistan (52), Qatar (54), Iraq (58), Saudi Arabia (59), Jordan (62), the UAE (64), Oman (78), Bahrain (90), and Syria (93) ranked fifth to 13th in Asia in turn. The Chinese national men's football team, which has no competition task, is still ranked 14th in Asia and 94th in the world in this instant ranking. There is a clear gap with the top teams in Asia. There is still a long way to go in the development of Chinese football.