England have jumped five places in the latest FIFA World Rankings list, climbing from tenth to fifth - behind Brazil in first place, World Cup winners Italy, runners up France and Argentina.

Four-time world champions Italy’s latest triumph is also reflected in the latest FIFA World Ranking. The Azzurri have leaped 11 places to second and are now at the head of the chasing pack behind Brazil, who stay on top.

The positions of the teams at the top of the ranking mirror their performances at the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Besides minor changes to other countries’ positions in the Top Ten, there was also one other prime mover, the host nation Germany (now 9th, up 10 places), who thanks to convincing displays in front of their home fans find themselves back among the world's best teams for the first time in more than two years.

Thanks to their performances at the World Cup, three other big gainers are Switzerland (13th, up 22), the Ukraine (15th, up 30) and Ghana (25th, up 23).

The new FIFA World Ranking takes a different look at African football and places teams such as Nigeria and Cameroon, who only narrowly failed to qualify for the World Cup, just outside the Top Ten.

As expected, the teams from North America and Asia whom fortune did not favour at the World Cup (Mexico, USA, Iran, Japan and Korea Republic) have slipped down the ranking.

A new method has been used to calculate this eagerly awaited first World Ranking since the 2006 FIFA World Cup, which not only introduces major changes in points allocation and the assessment of the opposition’s strength, but also makes such factors as the importance of the match and regional strength easier to understand.

This new formula and the big points hauls gained from World Cup matches has led to a complete shake up in the ranking. Besides the effect of the World Cup matches, the change in the evaluation period has also led to a major shift. Now only the last four years (48 months) count, with each year weighted differently.

Team

Ranking jump

Points total

Points jump

Brazil

0

1630

+803

Italy

+11

1550

+822

Argentina

+6

1472

+726

France

+4

1462

+713

England

+5

1434

+693

Netherlands

-3

1322

+554

Spain

-2

1309

+553

Portugal

-1

1301

+551

Germany

+10

1229

+533

Czech Republic

-8

1223

+451