Top-ranked Belgium named FIFA Team of the Year

Sports

ZURICH: Belgium were crowned FIFA’s Team of the Year for the second straight time after retaining top spot ahead of world champions France in the latest world rankings released on Thursday, football’s world governing body said.

Belgium, who finished third in the World Cup in Russia last year, won all 10 of their competitive matches in 2019 and have held on to a top spot in a December table barely impacted by just 19 friendlies towards the end of the year.

England moved up a spot to fourth place below Brazil, while Uruguay are fifth.

Argentina (ninth) and Colombia (10th) entered the top 10 this year displacing Switzerland (12th) and Denmark (16th).

It was a year in which 1,082 international “A” matches have been played, and that is an all-time high since the ranking’s inception in 1993.

Qatar, who will host the 2022 World Cup, were the biggest movers in a year in which they won the AFC Asian Cup, moving 38 places to sit 55th after gaining 138 points.

They have maintained the same place through a year that included playing as an invited team at the Copa America and in qualifying games for the 2023 Asian Cup.

Qatar, who never qualified for any previous World Cup, are ranked higher than the previous hosts Russia were, at No 70, when that tournament kicked off in June 2018. Russia outperformed expectations by reaching the quarter-finals. FIFA has modified how rankings were calculated since the 2018 World Cup.

Japan were also among the biggest climbers this year, from 50th to being Asias top-ranked team at 28th. They are followed by Iran (33), South Korea (40), Australia (42) and Qatar.

African champions Algeria made the second-biggest move, rising 32 places to 35th since the start of the year. They occupy the fourth position in the continental pecking order behind Senegal (20th), Tunisia (27th), Nigeria (31st).

In Europe, Kosovo rose 16 places to 115th. The next game for FIFA’s newest member nation is a playoff round in March for the 2020 European Championship.

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