Wales move up again in FIFA world rankings

Programme from Wales’s first ever game against continental opposition. It would be a sensational result if Wales can repeat the result of that day, when they thrashed Belgium 5-1. Picture: Flickr, footysphere

Wales have moved up three places to 38th in the latest FIFA world rankings, despite their 2-0 defeat to Mexico in New York last month.

Chris Coleman’s side are now just 11 places behind Wales’s highest ranking since the rankings were introduced in 1991 – 27th in August 1993, during the qualifying campaign for the 1994 World Cup, which Wales came within a whisker of making.

Although criticised as confusing and inaccurate, it should provide a boost to Coleman’s 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign, which begins in September.

Wales were FIFA’s ‘Best Mover’ in 2011, after a year in which Gary Speed presided over an astonishing rise in the rankings from 116th to 48th.

Despite being the lowest seeded team in qualifying Group A, Wales now find themselves in a strong position:

• 1. Croatia (ranked 8)
• 2. Serbia (34)
• 3. Wales (38)
• 4. Scotland (41)
• 5. Belgium (54)
• 6. Macedonia (101)

Belgium’s ranking looks a bit dubious, and a side featuring Eden Hazard and soon-to-be fellow Premier League stars Vincent Kompany, Thomas Vermaelen, Marouane Fellaini and Simon Mignolet looks set to bely its modest ranking.

But when Les Diables Rouges come to Cardiff on September 7, Coleman will see it as an opportunity to secure his place in Welsh footballing folklore.