November 2025 FIFA World Rankings Update: UK national teams among the winners, while Costa Rica and Portugal falter

FIFA’s newly released world rankings reflect the intense and surprising nature of what was an action-packed November international slate. This article will serve to recap some of the biggest takeaways from the latest ranking release.

(Image Credit to the BBC)

With the calendar set to flip to a World Cup year, national teams are preparing by securing or attempting to secure their respective spots at next summer’s tournament, while others are just beginning their preparations for the World Cup. 

Early Wednesday, the new edition of the FIFA World Rankings was made available; the new world football rankings reflect such ambitions of World Cup glory and some of the major runs of form seen in November.

The top-four spots remain unchanged, with Spain, Argentina, France, and England holding firm in their respective places, while Brazil moved into fifth after an international window that saw the Seleção win 2-0 against Senegal and draw 1-1 with Tunisia. Portugal, who recorded a 2-0 loss to Ireland and a 9-1 win over Armenia, fell out of fifth while the Netherlands dropped a spot following a 1-1 draw with Poland and a 4-0 win over Lithuania. 

Germany and Croatia joined the top ten of the World Rankings after respective two-wins-out-of-two windows, while Italy dropped three spots to fall out of the top ten after a narrow 2-0 win over Moldova and a 4-1 loss to a World Cup-bound Norwegian team. 

Among the host nations of the upcoming World Cup, the United States and Canada were the big winners. The American team gained two spots after beating Paraguay 2-1 and Uruguay 5-1, while Canada gained a spot following a 0-0 draw with Ecuador in Toronto and a 2-0 win over Venezuela. Meanwhile, Mexico fell a spot after an international window that saw the team draw 0-0 with Uruguay and lose 2-1 to Paraguay. 

For the teams heading to the UEFA World Cup qualifying playoffs, major gains could be seen. Poland gained two spots after a 1-1 draw with the Netherlands and a 3-2 win over Malta, while Wales gained two spots after beating Liechtenstein 1-0 and North Macedonia 7-1. Despite losing 3-2 to the 46th-place Greek national team, Scotland earned their own two-place gain with a 4-2 win over Denmark to steal their group’s automatic World Cup berth in the final minutes (literally) of their qualifying campaign. Other playoff-bound teams that had strong gains included Bosnia and Herzegovina (gained four places) and Kosovo (gained four places). 

At the furthest reaches of the top-fifty, despite losing 2-0 to Canada, Venezuela was able to reinforce their top-fifty standing with a two-place gain as a result of a 1-0 win over Australia. Elsewhere, Uzbekistan rode a five-place gain to their first top-fifty appearance since 2016; this came via 2-1 and 0-0 results over continental powerhouses Egypt and IR Iran (the 0-0 draw was followed up with an Uzbekistan penalty win).

While England and Scotland can be seen as some of the winners of this latest ranking release, Ireland and Northern Ireland did play their part in the proceedings. For the former, a 2-0 win over Portugal and a 3-2 win over Hungary helped in securing a World Cup qualifying playoff appearance and a three-place gain in the world rankings, while Northern Ireland held steady in 69th after beating Luxembourg 1-0 and losing to Slovakia by the same scoreline. 

In North American qualifying, despite earning their first-ever World Cup berth, Curaçao maintained their 82nd-place standing in the World Rankings, while Haiti gained four places after respective 1-0 and 2-0 wins over Costa Rica and Nicaragua helped in securing their first World Cup appearance in 52 years. Panama also entered the top thirty after wins over Guatemala and El Salvador earned the nation their second World Cup berth. 

At the edge of the top-100, Belarus was able to take advantage of El Salvador’s struggles and make their way back into the top-100 after falling out as a result of October’s update to the World Rankings. 

Other winners from the new World Rankings include the Faroe Islands, who gained two spots after ending their strong qualifying campaign with a 3-1 loss to Croatia and a 1-0 win over Kazakhstan. The DR Congo also gained four places after qualifying for the interconfederation playoffs via the second round of their continental World Cup qualifying campaign; a 1-0 win over Cameroon and a penalty win over Nigeria in the playoff final were the results from the nation’s November window. 

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Article written by Noah Guttman

© Noah Guttman 2025