Spain Retains Top Spot In New FIFA rankings

Newly-crowned European champions Spain retained their status as world number one in the latest FIFA world rankings.

European nations dominate the list, with world champions Italy up one place to second as Euro 2008 runners-up Germany dropped to third.

The Netherlands and Croatia remained at four and five in front of the top South American nations --Brazil and Argentina -- at six and seven.

Turkey climbed three places to make the top 10, replacing fellow-Euro 2008 semifinalists Russia -- down two to 12rh.

Cameroon are the leading African nation, climbing one place to 14th in a swap with England, who did not qualify for Euro 2008.

Mexico made the biggest move among the leading nations, rising eight places to 24th to take over from the United States as the top CONCACAF country.

Other major movers include Gabon, up 12 to 62th; Algeria rising 14 to 76th and Trinidad & Tobago up 12 to 80th position.

A total of 89 international matches played in the past month were taken into consideration. The next rankings are due on October 8 and will include two rounds of qualifying matches for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Experience World Cup Top 100

Ranking, Team, Pts Sept 08, +/- Ranking, +/- Pts Aug 08

1	Spain	1565	0		8
2	Italy	1339	1		19
3	Germany	1329	-1		-14
4	Netherlands	1295	0		-4
5	Croatia	1266	0		-16
6	Brazil	1252	0		10
7	Argentina	1230	0		11
8	Czech Republic	1134	0		-12
9	Portugal	1120	0		-2
10	Turkey	1033	3		23
11	France	1019	1		7
12	Russia	1013	-2		-10
13	Romania	1007	-2		-14
14	Cameroon	999	1		5
15	England	991	-1		-12
16	Scotland	976	0		-12
16	Bulgaria	976	1		46
18	Greece	921	0		25
19	Israel	874	1		-2
20	Ghana	864	-1		-28
21	Egypt	841	0		-10
22	Uruguay	817	2		4
23	Côte d'Ivoire	814	2		12
24	Mexico	807	8		57
25	Paraguay	801	-3		-19
26	Ukraine	799	2		13
27	Nigeria	791	0		3
28	USA	788	3		21
29	Colombia	785	-6		-31
30	Poland	779	-1		1
31	Sweden	773	-5		-28
32	Northern Ireland	761	0		11
33	Serbia	746	1		-3
34	Norway	733	-5		-45
35	Japan	707	0		-20
36	Denmark	696	0		-26
37	Morocco	671	0		-19
38	Republic of Ireland	662	3		-4
39	Australia	655	-1		-30
40	Chile	654	-1		-26
41	Guinea	650	-1		-20
42	Finland	649	0		-4
43	Switzerland	644	1		-1
44	Tunisia	643	3		14
45	Senegal	623	-2		-26
46	Iran	614	-1		-29
47	Mali	604	1		-20
48	Saudi Arabia	573	4		-2
48	Moldova	573	1		-49
50	Hungary	561	0		-30

51	Korea Republic	558	2		2
52	Ecuador	556	4		14
53	Wales	549	-2		-29
54	Lithuania	545	5		25
55	Belgium	530	-9		-107
56	FYR Macedonia	519	-2		-29
57	Belarus	518	0		-18
58	Angola	513	0		-9
59	Uzbekistan	505	-4		-40
60	Honduras	502	1		-4
61	Venezuela	496	-1		-12
62	Gabon	485	12		37
63	Latvia	479	2		-5
64	Burkina Faso	478	-1		-21
65	Cyprus	476	-3		-27
66	Bahrain	475	1		13
67	Slovakia	474	-3		-23
68	Congo DR	461	4		5
69	Zambia	456	-2		-6
70	South Africa	447	3		-4
71	Bolivia	443	-2		-17
72	Iraq	439	4		6
73	Peru	438	-4		-22
73	Costa Rica	438	5		24
75	Bosnia-Herzegovina	435	-1		-13
76	Algeria	423	14		37
77	Georgia	421	9		28
78	Togo	420	-12		-57
79	Slovenia	415	-2		-11
80	Trinidad and Tobago	414	12		35
81	Qatar	412	-10		-46
81	Canada	412	-2		0
83	Zimbabwe	406	1		10
84	Suriname	405	0		9
85	Rwanda	400	-2		1
86	Kenya	395	5		11
87	Uganda	392	9		21
87	Equatorial Guinea	392	-6		-11
89	Cape Verde Islands	391	-7		-9
90	Libya	386	-3		-6
90	Gambia	386	-2		-1
92	Oman	383	-4		-4
92	Cuba	383	-12		-22
94	China PR	375	3		6
95	New Caledonia	368	21		86
96	Panama	365	-4		-14
97	Syria	364	2		-3
98	Armenia	358	-4		-14
99	Guatemala	356	1		-5
100	Congo	355	5		11

Spain Wins 2008 European Title

Euro 2008 | Spain 1, Germany 0














A championship 44 years in the waiting is worth a special celebration.

Spain made sure it did not disappoint any of its fans Sunday night, both during its 1-0 victory against Germany to win the European Championship and after it.

Fernando Torres scored in the 33rd minute and the Spaniards never backed down against such a formidable opponent. Their last significant title came in the 1964 European Championship at home.

“It is to me the most important day in Spanish football in many, many years,” Torres said.

Against the highly accomplished Germans, the Spaniards were not intimidated. They got the one goal they needed — from a slumping striker, no less — and set off chants of “ES-PAÑA!” and “Olé, Olé, Olé!” at the final whistle.

The entire Spanish squad ran over to the huge rooting section of red and gold, exchanging hugs, while many of the spent Germans collapsed to the turf.

When Spain’s goalkeeper and captain, Iker Casillas, accepted the trophy on a stage, the Spanish fans began chanting the melody to their national anthem, which has no words. Thousands of camera flashes went off as the players jumped in place, then headed onto the field to show off their prize.

The Spaniards were not close to finished with their celebration that was so long in the making. They marched to their rooting section, hoisting the cup and saluting their flag-waving, firecracker-exploding fans.

“We have won in a brilliant way,” Coach Luis Aragonés said. “We will be able to start saying we can win, a European championship as well as any other thing.”

In beating a team that makes a habit of appearing in championship finals, the Spaniards put to rest a reputation for underachieving. Always loaded with talented players, Spain has spent four decades falling short of expectations.

That all changed here, where the Spaniards swept their first-round games, eliminated the World Cup champion Italy in a penalty-kick shootout in the quarterfinals, then routed Russia, 3-0, in the semifinals.

“We played the best for the entire tournament, and we beat some great teams,” Torres said. “We beat Italy, the World Cup champion, and we beat Russia and now Germany. That is how you become champion.”

Germany has won three European titles and three World Cups, but was no match in this final. Its captain, Michael Ballack, questionable before the game with a calf injury, started, but hardly was noticeable — except when he left for several minutes to have a bloody right eye treated.

“We had a great tournament but made one mistake too many,” Ballack said. “We were lacking of power against a great Spanish team. We couldn’t keep up with them.”

Torres, who had 33 goals for Liverpool this season but had been invisible in this tournament, came through off a brilliant feed from Xavi Hernández.

Germany goalkeeper Jens Lehmann, the oldest player in the competition at 38, charged from his net when he saw that defender Philipp Lahm was beaten on the right side. But Torres chipped the ball over the sliding Lehmann and into the gaping goal.

The crowd of 51,428 at Ernst Happel Stadium, split almost equally, might have expected the Spaniards to go into a protective shell. Instead, and even without their leading scorer, David Villa (leg injury), they continued to carry the attack and were far more dangerous than Germany the rest of the way.

Indeed, Lehmann, who helped the Germans to third place in the 2006 World Cup, kept it close with several tough saves.

This was the last game for 69-year-old Aragonés, the oldest coach to win a European title.

“The most important thing about our team, perhaps, is the manager,” Torres said. “He has confidence in us, and he lets us play. We have brought him the championship in his last game for Spain, and we are very happy we could make this history for him and for us.”

Germany’s Joachim Löw has a contract through the 2010 World Cup but will need to find the spark Germany showed periodically during the tournament.

“Spain played very well during the whole tournament, and they were technically excellent,” Löw said. “They fully deserve victory.”

Best Goals of the World Cup 2006 in Germany

Highlights of the top ten goals from the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany.