Southgate’s FIFA dream shattered as eight shock countries embarrass underachieving England

The latest FIFA rankings have been revealed and England are high. But Norway and Sweden have still come closer than Gareth Southgate to achieving his dream.

England have surged one place up the FIFA rankings above Brazil and into fourth after finishing as runners-up to Spain – up five spots to third – in the European Championship final.

The numbers are essentially meaningless, with Belgium in sixth, the Netherlands in seventh and Germany apparently only the 13th-best footballing nation in the world currently, marginally better than the United States (16th) after their Copa America humiliation.

They have always been meaningless but incredibly fun. The lowest FIFA ranking in England’s entire existence came in the build-up to what was until recently their most fondly remembered tournament in modern history, when Terry Venables dragged a nation ranked 27th, below Morocco, Tunisia, the Ivory Coast and Bulgaria, to the Euro ’96 semi-finals.

By comparison, England’s highest FIFA ranking of third was first achieved in the aftermath of Euro 2012, which was not a particularly successful summer in any sense.

England matched that ranking of third twice under Southgate, first in September 2021 after an excellent European Championship, and again in November 2023 on the back of eight wins in nine qualifying and friendly matches, including two victories over Italy.

They then immediately drew 1-1 with North Macedonia through an equalising own goal, before which Southgate outlined one of his objectives as England manager:

“Am I driven by being ranked number one? Yes, because ultimately you achieve that through consistency and you’ve got to play well in the tournaments as well because the ranking points are higher in the tournaments. Also, it sets behaviours every day on the training pitch, off the training pitch.

“With the games at the weekend, we might be ranked third in the world at the minute, but we’re two places off where we need to be so we can’t waste games. If you’re going to be the top-ranked team, there’s no room for sloppiness or casualness. If we’re going to be a top team then the level of performance has got to be spot on every time.”

England were ranked 12th when he took over and he leaves them in fourth. Mission accomplished. You’re still thinking about the trophies, aren’t you?

Their highest ranking ever being third is a notable thing in itself. Two previous World Cup winners – England and Uruguay – have never been ranked first, while two countries which have never won the World Cup – Belgium and the Netherlands – have. England never being among the two theoretical best footballing nations at any stage since 1992 sounds ludicrous but is also probably entirely fair.

But it also means that some surprising nations have at least matched England, if not surpassed them, in terms of historic FIFA rankings. By our count there are eight who have been ranked second or third who you might not entirely expect.

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Switzerland
Highest FIFA ranking: 3rd (August 1993)

The highest international placing Roy Hodgson ever achieved was not only with England but also Switzerland, who by August 1993 he had guided through the first part of a qualifying group containing Italy, Portugal and Scotland with five wins and two draws from seven matches, conceding four goals.

“At our peak, I got a mysterious phone call from Fifa House in Zurich: ‘We’d rather not tell you why, but Sepp Blatter would like you here’,” Hodgson later recalled. “I arrived and met Berti Vogts. He didn’t know why he’d been summoned either. We found they were announcing the new Fifa world ranking system, and it was Brazil 1, Germany 2, Switzerland 3. We were no more third in the world than I was a Chinaman.”

Well that’s a shame.

Sweden
Highest FIFA ranking: 2nd (November 1994)

In topping a World Cup 1994 qualifying group featuring Bulgaria and France, it was no secret that Sweden had something about them. Finishing third at the tournament and taking Brazil to within 10 minutes of extra-time in the semi-final as the highest scorers of any side in the United States that summer only confirmed it. Failing to then qualify for either Euro ’96 or the 1998 World Cup provided enough of a counter-argument.

Norway
Highest FIFA ranking: 2nd (October 1993; July-August 1995)

Wins over England and the Netherlands in qualifying for the 1994 World Cup announced Norway as a force to be reckoned with and things were headed the same way in the first half of their campaign to reach Euro ’96, but a late collapse there saw Egil Olsen’s side miss out on head-to-head points.

While they reached both the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000, they remain Norway’s last major tournament appearances. Poor Erling Haaland and Martin Odegaard.

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Russia
Highest FIFA ranking: 3rd (April 1996)

The brilliance of FIFA rankings: a 12-match winning streak established Russia as the third-best team in the world leading into Euro ’96, for which they qualified with eight wins and two draws in ten games. That group featured Scotland, Greece, Finland, Faroe Islands and San Marino; their actual Euro ’96 group included Italy, Germany and Czechia, which brought two defeats and a draw.

Denmark
Highest FIFA ranking: 3rd (May and August 1997)

As the FIFA rankings were first published in December 1992, a possible Denmark peak after their incredible European Championship win was missed. It took another five years for them to approach such lofty heights in a fine World Cup 1998 qualification campaign, which sandwiched a friendly win over a France side preparing to become world champions less than two years later.

Czechia
Highest FIFA ranking: 2nd (September 1999; January-May 2000; April-May 2005; January-May 2006)

A flawless Euro 2000 qualifying campaign and some solid friendly results in the build-up inevitably preluded a group-stage exit, before the Czechs were back at it again half a decade later, sauntering into the 2006 World Cup without any particular problems before heading home early after a win and two defeats.

Colombia
Highest FIFA ranking: 3rd (July-August 2013; September 2014-March 2015; June-August 2016)

That phenomenal showing at the 2014 World Cup helped put James Rodriguez and Colombia behind only both finalists in Brazil. They even impressed by finishing second in CONMEBOL qualifying for the tournament, rising back up to their peak after coming third in the Copa America Centenario.

Chile
Highest FIFA ranking: 3rd (April-May 2016)

Chile won that tournament, putting Lionel Messi into one of his international retirements with a shoot-out win in the final long before Argentina accepted that they needed Emi Martinez. La Roja actually somehow dropped from that placing after lifting the trophy.

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