The latest FIFA ranking for 30 July 2003 saw both Australia and New Zealand tumble out of the top fifty while elsewhere, OFC nations Fiji, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and Tonga made important gains.
New Zealand is now the highest ranked OFC nation in 60th place with its performance at the recent FIFA Confederations been taken into account.
Australia fell 13 places to 63rd in the biggest drop of all the OFC nations. Australia can improve their ranking with a good result in its next scheduled international against the Republic of Ireland in Dublin on 20th August. New Zealand will have to wait till October for its next scheduled international against Iran in Tehran, which will be for the AFC/OFC Challenge Cup.
Fiji made the biggest gain rising 9 places to occupy the 140th position. They will likely rise further up the ranking after recently winning the South Pacific Games football tournament. Vanuatu also continue its surge up the FIFA ranking rising 6 places to 156th position. Their third place at the South Pacific Games will also play in their favour when the next FIFA rankings are released on 27 August.
Papua New Guinea and Tonga are the only other improvers moving up one place to 168th and 182nd respectively. Despite beating Papua New Guinea 5-3 in a recent friendly international held prior to the South Pacific Games in June, the Solomon Islands have still lost ground dropping one place to 151st.
Tahiti retains its position as the top ranked island nation on 126, despite a drop of four places. Samoa concedes ground also dropping 2 places to 170 while Cook Islands and American Samoa remain as they ere on 188 and 202 respectively.
Ranking as of 30 July 2003
Rank: Team: Pts Jul 03/Rank Jun 03/Change Jun 03
60 New Zealand 533 53 -7
63 Australia 528 50 -13
126 Tahiti 368 122 -4
140 Fiji 304 149 9
151 Solomon Islands 263 150 -1
156 Vanuatu 227 162 6
168 PNG 182 169 1
170 Samoa 181 168 -2
182 Tonga 147 183 1
188 Cook Islands 114 188 0
202 American Samoa 19 202 0