The October edition of the ranking reflects the 136 matches played over the past month, 76 of which were 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ qualifiers.
New Caledonia won only one of its four fixtures in Paris but, as many of the sides taking part in the tournament were not FIFA members, these games did not count towards the rankings.
Alain Moizan’s men have therefore been able to climb 15 places on the ladder to 113th, thanks largely to a memorable 4-0 win over francophone rivals Tahiti in Stage 3 of World Cup qualifying.
The Bonitos from the Solomon Islands are also on the up, rising 12 places to sit at 141st, but a host of Oceania nations are heading in the opposite direction, the most badly-affected of whom are Fiji, who have dropped 12 places to now sit at 167th.
The other sides on the way down are: Tahiti (127th, down 8), Vanuatu (172nd, down 5), Tonga (174th, down 2), American Samoa (175th, down 2) and Cook Islands (196th, down 1).
The Oceania rankings are now as follows:
1. New Zealand
2. New Caledonia
3. Tahiti
4. Solomon Islands
5. Samoa
6. Fiji
7. Vanuatu
8. Tonga
9. American Samoa
10. Papua New Guinea
11. Cook Islands
Elsewhere in the world, leaders Spain and Germany now find themselves closely pursued by Portugal (3rd, up 1) and Argentina (4th, up 3), who both managed to secure wins in their recent World Cup preliminaries.
Colombia (9th, up 13) have moved back into the top ten for the first time since July 2002, thanks to their two impressive victories over Chile (3-1) and South American champions Uruguay (4-0).
Similarly, 2004 European champions Greece (10th, up 1) find themselves back among the world’s best teams after an absence of exactly one year, courtesy of opening wins in European Zone Group G over Lithuania (110th, up 6) and Latvia (118th, down 24).
The teams that have slipped out of the top ten are Croatia (11th, down 2) and Denmark (18th, down 8), with both having failed to secure victory last time out.
Belgium (30th, up 10) and Serbia (33rd, up 9) continue to climb and will come up against each other in a top-of-the-table clash on October 12 in the next round of Brazil 2014 qualifiers. The last encounter between these two sides was a UEFA EURO 2008 qualifier which the Red Devils won 3-2.
Currently second in African qualifying Group A, Central African Republic (49th, up 15) have moved up the global ladder for the seventh month in a row, climbing from 131st in March 2012 to enter the top 50 for the first time ever.
The current edition of the Ranking sees a further nine teams reach their best-ever position: Algeria (24th, up 4), Mali (27th, up 5), Cape Verde Islands (51st, up 14), Haiti (60th, up 17), Dominican Republic (102nd, up 1), Philippines (147th, up 3), Aruba (154th, up 4), Guam (178th, up 7) and Montserrat (181st, up 25).

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