Italy moves to second in FIFA standings

| Thu, 07/03/2008 - 03:25

World champions Italy rose to second place in FIFA's world rankings for June despite being kicked out of the Euro 2008 quarter finals by new European heroes Spain, who moved to the top spot for the first time in the rankings' 16-year history.

Former top dog Argentina fell to sixth and Brazil dropped from second to fourth.

Euro 2008 runner-up Germany rose two places to third, while the strength of the Netherlands' performance in Switzerland and Austria saw it leapfrog five places to fifth.

Croatia and Portugal were new entries in the top ten, while England and former Euro champions Greece made their exit to 15th and 18th place respectively.

France dropped three places to tenth and the Czech Republic fell two places to eighth.

Euro 2008 revelation and semi-finalist Russia surged to 11th after climbing 12 places.

Here is the top 15 (May positions in brackets):
1 Spain (4)
2 Italy (3)
3 Germany (5)
4 Brazil (2)
5 Netherlands (10)
6 Argentina (1)
7 Croatia (15)
8 Czech Republic (6)
9 Portugal (11)
10 France (7)
11 Russia (24)
12 Romania (12)
13 Cameroon (13)
14 Turkey (20)
15 England (9)

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