NYON, Switzerland, June 6 (UPI) -- Spain strengthens its position on top of the FIFA men's soccer rankings and five countries, including new No. 2 Uruguay, improve their Top 10 positions.
Spain gained 14 points in the rankings updated Wednesday and totals 1,456 points to hold the No. 1 spot for a 10th consecutive month. Spain has been on top of the rankings every month except one since July 2010.
Uruguay, with 1,292 points, reaches its highest ever ranking by moving to No. 2 this month while Germany (1,288) lost 57 points and slips to No. 3 after a month that included a 5-3 loss to Switzerland.
The Netherlands has 1,234 points and keeps the No. 4 spot but Brazil (1,155) and England (1,145) are each up one place to fifth and sixth, respectively, while Argentina (1,137) goes from ninth to No. 7.
Croatia remains eighth with 1,053 points and Denmark is up one place to No. 9 at 1,019 points.
Portugal, however, loses 194 points and falls from fifth to 10th. The Portuguese lost to Turkey 3-0 and was drawn by Macedonia in recent games.
The next FIFA rankings are to be released July 4, which will be after UEFA EURO 2012, a tournament that could cause movement in the rankings.
The FIFA world rankings are determined by points awarded from match results in a three-year period, with more recent games given greater weight. Teams get additional points for playing relatively strong opponents.
