{"id":1610,"date":"2026-04-01T20:00:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T20:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/1610\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T20:00:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T20:00:13","slug":"fifa-rankings-update-mbappes-france-move-to-no-1-ahead-of-yamals-spain-and-messis-argentina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/1610\/","title":{"rendered":"FIFA rankings update: Mbappe\u2019s France move to No. 1 ahead of Yamal\u2019s Spain and Messi\u2019s Argentina"},"content":{"rendered":"

The FIFA rankings<\/a> received their final update of the March international break ahead of the 2026 World Cup, bringing with it several significant changes. The most notable is that Kylian Mbappe<\/a>\u2018s France have claimed the top spot, leapfrogging Lamine Yamal\u2019s Spain and Lionel Messi\u2019s Argentina in the process.<\/p>\n

The previous ranking update dates back to late January, following the conclusion of the Africa Cup of Nations<\/a>, which saw Senegal crowned champions with a 1-0 win over Morocco. While that update had a limited impact, largely affecting African nations and leaving the rest of the table largely undisturbed, the March window brought far greater movement, driven by high-profile friendlies and the final rounds of World Cup qualifying.<\/p>\n

After the first week of matches, changes were already beginning to emerge, with France<\/a> overtaking Argentina for second place as the most notable early shift. Then on April 1, FIFA released the full updated rankings<\/a>, with Les Bleus claiming the top spot for the first time since September 2018, just months after winning the World Cup in Russia.<\/p>\n

Key changes in the FIFA rankings <\/p>\n

Fueled by wins over Brazil and Croatia, Mbapp\u00e9\u2019s side now sits atop the rankings with 1,877.32 points, with Spain and Argentina<\/a> close behind at 1,876.40 and 1,874.81 respectively. Yamal\u2019s draw against Egypt and Messi\u2019s side facing lower-ranked opposition in Mauritania and Zambia proved costly, giving France the opening it needed to claim first place.<\/p>\n

\"KylianKylian Mbappe of France greets Carlo Ancelotti, Head Coach of Brazil. <\/p>\n

England took a significant hit after their defeat to Japan but managed to hold on to fourth place, while Portugal, without Cristiano Ronaldo, overtook Brazil to move into fifth. Another notable development sees Mexico climb to 15th with 1,681.03 points, surpassing the United States, who dropped more than four points to sit 16th with 1,673.13.<\/p>\n

This latest update also serves as a significant benchmark for national teams, as it will be the last ranking cycle with major movement before the 2026 World Cup kicks off in June. Between now and then, nations will be finalizing their squad lists and arranging pre-tournament friendlies, expected to take place just weeks before the competition gets underway.<\/p>\n

FIFA ranking top 10 ahead of the 2026 World Cup France \u2014 1877.32 points.Spain \u2014 1876.40 points.Argentina \u2014 1874.81 points.England \u2014 1825.97 points.Portugal \u2014 1763.83 points.Brazil \u2014 1761.16 points.Netherlands\u2014 1757.87 points.Morocco \u2014 1755.87 points.Belgium \u2014 1734.71 points.Germany \u2014 1730.37 points.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The FIFA rankings received their final update of the March international break ahead of the 2026 World Cup,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1611,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1239,1563,5,112,1564,1565,230],"class_list":{"0":"post-1610","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-argentina","9":"tag-fifa-rankings","10":"tag-france","11":"tag-kylian-mbappe","12":"tag-lamine-yamal","13":"tag-lionel-messi","14":"tag-spain"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1610\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}