England’s FIFA world ranking set to improve despite two games that did little to convince England fans ahead of the upcoming Euros.
In their recent internationals, Gareth Southgate’s men just beat 171 ranked Malta 2-0 and drew 1-1 with North Macedonia. It was two games that had fans and some media questioning Southgate was the right man for England, and who could possibly replace him.
Speaking to the media, Southgate confirmed it was his hope to take England’s FIFA world ranking to number one. That would do something no England manager before him as ever done.
FIFA will announce their new world rankings on November 30th, with a surprise for England fans despite two poor games.
England are now third, behind last season’s World Cup finalists, Argentina and France. Southgate’s men have managed to leapfrog Brazil and into the top three in the world.
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Although England have had two poor games, their 2023 has been largely successful. They’ve managed to go a full year without losing, finished top of their group and end up in pot 1 for the Euros draw. That’s enough for Southgate to ignore two games and focus on the bigger picture.
Past England FIFA World Ranking
As stated before, England have never been ranked number one in the world. That being said, the FIFA world rankings are only just over 30 years old. This excludes the 1966 World Cup winning team, that would have come close to making top spot.
The highest England FIFA world ranking was 3rd August 2012. Roy Hodgson was manager at the time, but most of the hard work was done by Fabio Capello.
The lowest England ranking came back in 1996. As England prepared to host the Euros, the national team was ranked 27th. The reason the team were so low is because of their failure to qualify for the 1994 World Cup and lack of competitive games in the lead up to the Euros.
If Southgate can lead England to Euros glory next summer, maybe he’ll have that lucrative number one ranking.
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