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The new FIFA World Ranking has been announced following the conclusion of the World Cup, and the new ranking reflect the result of the tournament. Germany, the new World Champion now tops the list. Beaten finalist Argentina climbed up three spots into second place, while Netherlands who claimed 3rd place jumped dramatically from 15th place all the way into 3rd. On the other hand, Spain drops to 8th after being ranked 1st in the previous standings, Brazil also dropped to 7th owing to a heavy 7-1 defeat by Germany. Portugal and Italy also falls out from the top 10 as they exited at the group stage.
So it is not a surprise that England has also dropped out from the top 10, falling all the way to 20th, which is their lowest ranking since June 1996 when they were ranked as low as 24th. A winless World Cup in which the Three Lions can only picked up a point causing the free fall. At the moment there is no repercussion for England dropping all the way to 20th, as the FIFA ranking is just a way for FIFA to make sense of team's win-draw-lose record in lieu of an actual international league, and are usually used to determine seedings for the drawing of qualification groups for the European Championships or the FIFA World Cup. However, if England continues to languish outside the top nine among other European countries, they could be faced with the prospect of being unseeded and would then be grouped with a top team that can hurt their chances of qualifying for Russia 2018.
For The FA and Roy Hodgson though, the more pressing matter at hand is how to significantly improve the team after such a poor showing in Brazil. With an international friendly lined up in September against Norway followed by the start of Euro qualifiers against Switzerland five days later, those two matches should serve as a springboard for England to rebound from the disappointment of the World Cup.
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