December 22 – Spain will begin 2026 where they finished 2025: at the top of the men’s international game. The final FIFA/Coca-Cola Men’s World Ranking of the year confirms Spain as the world’s number one side, maintaining the position they reclaimed from Argentina in September.
With the World Cup now on the calendar doorstep, the standings offer an early snapshot of the teams setting the pace as attention inevitably shifts toward FIFA’s uber-expensive mega event next summer.
December’s ranking follows 42 international matches, with the FIFA Arab Cup Qatar 2025 providing the bulk of the late-year movement.
At the top, however, there was little change. Argentina remain second, France third, and the rest of the top ten – England, Brazil, Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Croatia – all end the year exactly where they started the month.
Just outside that group, Morocco continues to edge closer. Fresh from lifting the Arab Cup in Doha, the AFCON hosts are just a single ranking point behind Croatia in tenth.
Jordan were among the most upwardly mobile sides in December, climbing two places to 64th after reaching the Arab Cup final. Their run in Qatar saw them play six matches – the joint-highest total of any nation in the window – and the reward came in the form of a tangible lift in the standings.
Elsewhere, Vietnam and Singapore each moved up three places, but the broader picture of 2025 belongs to Kosovo – while their December position remains unchanged at 80th, no team accumulated more ranking points over the course of the year. Seven wins and two draws from ten matches delivered a total gain of 89.02 points and a 19-place rise since January, the biggest overall climb of any nation.
Norway and Suriname also closed the year better than where they started it, while a further dozen teams improved their position by double figures across the calendar. At the other end of the scale, Malaysia experienced the sharpest drop, both in points and places, while Palestine recorded the largest single points increase.
In confederation terms, the top 50 remains largely stable. UEFA continue to dominate with 26 teams, followed by seven each from CONMEBOL and CAF, and five apiece from Concacaf and the AFC. No new teams entered the rankings this month, none fell out, and Eritrea remain inactive.
Contact the writer of this story, Harry Ewing, at [email protected]