England slips in world rankings

England have slipped to 13th in the FIFA world rankings after a month which has seen them suffer home defeats to Germany and Chile.

The Germans retained their place in an unchanged top four, staying second behind reigning world champions Spain and ahead of Argentina in third and Colombia in fourth.

With competitive matches scoring more points in the rankings, Portugal are the real movers after the majority of other teams in the top 20 only played in friendly matches.

They move up nine places to fifth place following victories in both legs of their World Cup play-off against Sweden, replacing Belgium in the top five who slipped six places to 11th..

Five-time World Cup winners Brazil move up one place to 10th while Netherlands move down one to ninth.

USA sit one place behind England in 14th while Cote d'Ivoire stay as the highest ranked African nation at 17.

Iran rise four places to 45th replacing Japan as the highest ranked Asian team. Japan fall four from 44th to 48th.

Australia, who are ranked at 59, will be the lowest ranked of the 32 teams in the World Cup draw which takes place next week.