Football: Spain maintain top ranking

Fifa have released their latest world rankings, with Spain maintaining their position at the top after their recent European Championship success. Germany have moved up to second due to their semi-final run in the Euros, which means Uruguay drop to third. England have surprisingly moved up to fourth despite losing in the quarter-finals to Italy who were placed sixth. Between the two is Portugal at fifth, who reached the semi-finals of Euro 2012. Argentina maintained their seventh position, while Netherlands dropped to eighth after losing all three games at the Euros. Croatia and Denmark round off the top ten. Meanwhile, Brazil dropped down six places to eleventh due to the fewer games they have played.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 5^th, 2012.