London: Brazil have extended their lead over world champions Italy at the top of the latest FIFA rankings while Nigeria have broken into the top 10 at the expense of Spain.
Italy's 1-1 draw in a friendly with Turkey last week would have taken the World Cup winners level with Brazil, had the South Americans not beaten Switzerland 2-1 in another friendly on the same day.
Argentina moved up to third from fourth, trading places with France, thanks to the devaluation of defeats registered before mid-November a year ago.
Nigeria rose to ninth, up two places, while Spain fell to 12th after they lost 1-0 to Romania in a friendly in Cadiz last week for their third defeat in the last four games under coach Luis Aragones.
Russia climbed 10 places to 23rd, their highest position since early 2003, while Uzbekistan (45) and Cuba (46) both entered the top 50 with their highest positions since the FIFA rankings were introduced.
FIFA said the number of teams featuring in the rankings was now at a record high, with East Timor now among 206 sides included.
Only the Comoros Islands, who joined FIFA in 2005, have yet to be listed.
Top 20 rankings (previous month in brackets, points total): 1. (1) Brazil 1,588 2. (2) Italy 1,560 3. (4) Argentina 1,551 4. (3) France 1,523 5. (5) England 1,359 6. (6) Germany 1,348 7. (7) Netherlands 1,305 8. (9) Portugal 1,258 9. (11) Nigeria 1,242 10. (8) Czech Republic 1,190 11. (12) Cameroon 1,160 12. (10) Spain 1,154 13. (13) Ukraine 1,054 14. (16) Sweden 958 15. (19=) Croatia 948 16. (14) Greece 945 17. (15) Switzerland 937 18. (18) Ivory Coast 919 19. (23) Romania 912 20. (19=) Mexico 887.
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