So England make it to the last 8 of the Euro 2012 championships but still manage to rise to fourth place in the world rankings issued by FIFA. Spain remains at the top having broken almost all international football records. Italy who finished runners up in the competition jumped up to 6^th. Their poor form in the qualifiers as well as the last world cup contributed to their lowly position before the tournament.

A shock is also that Brazil fall out of the top 10 countries in the world for the first time to 11^th. Wales stay in 38ht while Scotland drops 8 places to 49^th. Republic of Ireland who lost all three of their matches at Euro 2012 dropped to 26^th from 18^th.

The beaten semi-finalists of the Euros also rose laces with Portugal rising to fifth and Germany up one place to second. The Fifa world rankings are compiled every month, with ranking points accumulated according to results, the importance of the matches played and the strength of opposing teams. The rankings are a talking point and do make a mockery of the system. An example is Brazil who are hosting the World cup in 2014 do not have to qualify for the tournament as they are hosts so have therefore played less competitive matches.

1. Spain 2. Germany 3. Uruguay 4. England 5. Portugal 6. Italy 7. Argentina 8. Netherlands 9. Croatia 10. Denmark 11. Brazil 12. Greece 13. Russia 14. France 15. Chile 16. Ivory Coast 17. Sweden 18. Czech Republic 19. Mexico 20. Japan

Selected others: 26. Republic of Ireland 38. Wales 49. Scotland 102. Northern Ireland