PARIS – Belgium will end the year as No 1 ahead of world champions France in the global rankings released by Fifa on Thursday.
Belgium, beaten by France in the World Cup semi-finals, edge out Didier Deschamps’ team by one ranking point.
Belgium have 1 727 points, by Fifa’s calculations to 1 726 for France. Brazil are third on 1 676.
Fifa noted on their web site that France, who were ranked No 9 last Christmas, were the year’s “Best Mover” after a “stellar 2018... having gained more points (165) since December 2017 than any other nation”.
The governing body of world football also noted that Europe and Asia have gained top-50 places at the expense of Africa.
Europe has 31, an increase of two, Asia is up one to three and Africa is down three to five top-50 representatives.
📈 We finish 2018 as nr.1 ! 😊
Thx 4 your support in 2018 ! 👍🏽
👊 @Fanclub1895 #FIFAranking🌍 #REDTOGETHER🇧🇪 https://t.co/yyzNILNcbt
— Belgian Red Devils (@BelRedDevils) December 20, 2018
Kosovo were the biggest climbers, jumping 46 places to 131.
Stuart Baxter’s Bafana Bafana came in at No 72, level with Cape Verde Islands on 1 325, while Senegal are the leading African nation at No 23, with 1 505.
Fifa Rankings
1 Belgium 2 France 3 Brazil 4 Croatia 5 England 6 Portugal 7 Uruguay 8 Switzerland 9 Spain 10 Denmark.
Africa:
, Cape Verde Islands.
NEW #FIFARANKING
🇧🇪Belgium stay top, crowned Team of the Year 🥇
🇫🇷World champions France 2018's Best Mover 🏆
🇽🇰Kosovo the year's biggest climbers 📈
More info ℹ️➡️ https://t.co/eqo4mVHxEy pic.twitter.com/Tv87QcwLKG
— #ClubWC 🏆 (@FIFAcom) December 20, 2018