ZURICH (AP) — Defending World Cup champion Spain will travel to Brazil as the No. 1 team in the FIFA rankings, and the host nation will kick off as No. 3.
Spain and Germany remain 1-2 in FIFA’s monthly standings, while Brazil leapfrogs No. 4 Portugal.
Argentina and Switzerland both climb two places to Nos. 5 and 6. Colombia drops three to No. 8.
Group D rivals Uruguay, Italy and England are also all in the top 10.
No. 11 Belgium is the lowest-ranked of the seeded World Cup teams.
The United States at No. 13 leads CONCACAF nations.
Algeria, at No. 22, is top-ranked in Africa and No. 43 Iran heads Asian confederation teams.
Australia, No. 62, is the lowest-ranked team at the World Cup.
