FIFA.com: This month’s FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking is dominated by a raft of FIFA World CupTM qualifying matches on various continents and the countless games played in the build-up to EURO 2004 in Portugal. At the top, Brazil continues to hold a healthy lead over France and Spain thanks to their crucial victory over Argentina. Mexico (4th, up 2) now heads the chasing pack, closely followed by Argentina, the Netherlands and Turkey (all 5th).
However, most of this month’s movers come from Oceania, where no fewer than 35 qualifying matches for the 2006 FIFA World CupTM have taken place in recent weeks. Australia (49th, up 40) take a giant leap and return to the top 50 after nearly a year’s absence and a lengthy period of inactivity, and despite being eliminated from the FIFA World CupTM qualifiers, New Zealand (80th, up 15) also make progress up the ranking.
The Oceanian surprise packages, the Solomon Islands (130th, up 24) and Vanuatu (142nd, up 19), are also on the rise, as are Tahiti, Fiji and Papua New Guinea. Elsewhere, Chile (65th, up 12) and Peru (72nd, up 9) also take strides up the table. 2006 FIFA World CupTM qualifiers are underway in Africa, with Senegal (26th, up 5) and Côte d’Ivoire (69th, up 6) both taking advantage. Despite only making their debut in this month’s ranking, there is already daylight between FIFA’s newest member, New Caledonia (186th, new entry), and the teams at the very foot of the table.
Rank Team Pts: Rank: May 04
49 Australia 558 89
80 New Zealand 510 96
117 Tahiti 398 135
130 Solomon Islands 362 154
133 Fiji 359 149
142 Vanuatu 313 163
160 Papua New Guinea 237 178
177 Samoa 180 181
182 Tonga 154 185
186 New Caledonia 119 0
190 Cook Islands 103 192
203 American Samoa 20 203