While I don't see any signs of a FIFA ranking being published in January 2026, looking back at previous years with African Cup of Nations taking place in January, I expect we'll have a ranking being published, probably on 22 January 2026 after the final. To date we've had a handful of friendlies, the conclusion of the MSG Prime Minister's Cup, and qualifiers for the Arab Cup and the final tournament. None of those have made very big changes. Actually the biggest change so far is Malaysia, after 3 of their friendly matches were forfeited. Probably the numbers will vary on that, but probably they lose about 12 points. But the big changes will come with the 2025 African Cup of Nations. As hosts, Morocco are favorites, with Senegal, Egypt and Algeria expected to fill the other places in the top four. If results go as expected (see separate post), then this will be what the FIFA ranking of January 2026 will look like, with Morocco moving into 5th place! So if they achieve that, it apparently equals the record for an African nation. Nigeria currently has that record set in April 1994, although that was with a much less accurate ranking method in my humble opinion.
NOTE: for the 2025 Arab Cup I've assumed FIFA will award points even where countries maybe didn't send their best players.
Pos Country Rank Pts +/- +/-
1 Spain 1877.18 0 0.00
2 Argentina 1873.33 0 0.00
3 France 1870.00 0 0.00
4 England 1834.12 0 0.00
5 Morocco 1783.28 6 70.16
6 Brazil 1760.46 0 0.00
6 Portugal 1760.38 0 0.00
8 Netherlands 1756.27 0 0.00
9 Belgium 1730.71 0 0.00
10 Germany 1724.15 0 0.00
11 Croatia 1716.88 0 0.00
12 Senegal 1704.93 7 56.86
13 Italy 1702.06 0 0.00
14 Colombia 1701.30 0 0.00
15 United States 1681.88 0 0.00
16 Mexico 1675.75 0 0.00
17 Uruguay 1672.62 0 0.00
18 Switzerland 1654.69 0 0.00
19 Japan 1650.12 0 0.00
20 Iran 1617.02 0 0.00
21 Denmark 1616.75 0 0.00
22 South Korea 1599.45 0 0.00
23 Ecuador 1591.73 0 0.00
24 Austria 1585.51 0 0.00
25 Egypt 1583.49 9 62.81
26 Türkiye 1582.69 0 0.00
27 Australia 1574.01 0 0.00
28 Algeria 1570.01 7 53.64
29 Canada 1559.15 0 0.00
30 Ukraine 1557.47 0 0.00
31 Norway 1553.14 0 0.00
32 Panama 1541.96 -2 1.53
33 Poland 1532.04 0 0.00
34 Wales 1529.71 0 0.00
35 Nigeria 1529.22 3 26.76
36 Russia 1524.52 0 0.00
37 Côte d'Ivoire 1524.12 5 34.53
38 Tunisia 1521.04 2 23.91
39 Scotland 1506.77 0 0.00
40 Serbia 1506.34 0 0.00
41 Paraguay 1501.50 0 0.00
42 Hungary 1496.29 0 0.00
43 Sweden 1487.13 0 0.00
43 Czechia 1487.00 0 0.00
45 Slovakia 1485.65 0 0.00
46 Cameroon 1480.76 11 40.33
47 Greece 1480.38 0 0.00
48 Mali 1466.93 5 11.90
49 Romania 1465.78 0 0.00
50 Venezuela 1465.22 0 0.00
51 Costa Rica 1464.24 0 0.00
52 Uzbekistan 1462.03 0 0.00
53 Peru 1461.46 -2 1.89
54 Chile 1457.84 0 0.00
55 Qatar 1454.94 -4 -6.66
56 Democratic Republic of Congo 1451.06 0 8.56
57 Slovenia 1447.31 0 0.00
58 Iraq 1436.94 0 -1.97
59 Ireland 1436.04 0 0.00
60 South Africa 1432.42 1 5.69
61 Saudi Arabia 1429.46 -1 0.72
62 Burkina Faso 1411.85 0 7.05
63 Albania 1401.07 0 0.00
64 Jordan 1388.93 2 11.27
65 Honduras 1379.54 0 0.00
66 North Macedonia 1378.57 0 0.00
67 United Arab Emirates 1370.47 0 0.76
68 Cape Verde Islands 1369.51 0 1.56
69 Northern Ireland 1366.02 0 0.00
70 Jamaica 1362.46 0 0.00
70 Bosnia and Herzegovina 1362.37 0 0.00
72 Ghana 1351.09 0 0.00
73 Georgia 1347.88 0 0.00
74 Iceland 1344.72 0 0.00
75 Finland 1341.81 0 0.00
76 Israel 1328.14 0 0.00
77 Bolivia 1326.14 -1 -3.42
78 Oman 1313.47 1 1.02
79 Gabon 1310.25 -1 -11.00
80 Kosovo 1308.84 0 0.00
81 Guinea 1307.05 0 0.00
82 Curaçao 1302.70 0 0.00
83 Montenegro 1297.09 0 0.00
84 Haiti 1294.49 0 0.00
85 Syria 1282.59 2 4.49
86 Uganda 1280.58 -1 -7.43
87 New Zealand 1279.25 0 0.00
88 Bulgaria 1272.19 0 0.00
89 Angola 1262.71 0 -8.84
90 Bahrain 1258.53 1 -0.15
91 Zambia 1257.55 -1 -2.51
92 Benin 1250.36 0 -5.35
93 China 1249.06 0 0.00
94 Guatemala 1245.77 0 0.00
95 Thailand 1243.27 0 0.00
96 Palestine 1239.00 0 8.45
97 Trinidad and Tobago 1227.32 0 0.00
97 Belarus 1227.09 0 0.00
99 El Salvador 1226.65 0 0.00
100 Tajikistan 1224.93 0 0.00
101 Equatorial Guinea 1224.19 -4 -4.90
102 Luxembourg 1218.91 0 0.00
103 Kyrgyzstan 1201.22 0 0.00
104 Madagascar 1198.87 0 0.00
105 Armenia 1196.08 0 0.00
106 Mozambique 1190.27 -4 -33.20
107 Vietnam 1189.51 3 5.89
108 Lebanon 1187.96 -1 -2.68
109 Niger 1185.09 0 0.00
110 Libya 1183.03 1 0.25
111 Kenya 1179.54 0 0.00
112 Kazakhstan 1173.00 0 0.00
113 Mauritania 1171.35 1 -2.84
114 Gambia 1161.55 0 0.00
115 Comoros 1158.36 -7 -31.39
116 Malaysia 1156.36 0 -12.05
117 Namibia 1153.22 0 0.00
118 Tanzania 1151.91 -6 -29.32
119 North Korea 1151.05 0 0.00
120 Sierra Leone 1149.10 0 0.00
121 Indonesia 1144.73 0 0.00
122 Surinam 1140.54 0 0.00
123 Togo 1140.35 0 0.00
124 Faroe Islands 1135.42 0 0.00
125 Malawi 1133.75 0 0.00
126 Azerbaijan 1132.97 0 0.00
127 Cyprus 1128.50 0 0.00
128 Sudan 1123.16 -10 -30.40
128 Estonia 1123.11 0 0.00
130 Rwanda 1117.79 0 0.00
131 Nicaragua 1116.86 0 0.00
132 Guinea-Bissau 1108.09 0 0.00
133 Congo 1105.96 0 0.00
134 Kuwait 1105.10 1 1.85
135 Zimbabwe 1096.58 -6 -27.11
136 Philippines 1090.95 0 0.00
137 Turkmenistan 1087.52 0 0.00
138 Central African Republic 1083.57 0 0.00
139 Latvia 1082.68 0 0.00
140 Liberia 1081.46 0 0.00
141 India 1079.52 0 0.00
142 Dominican Republic 1077.49 0 0.00
143 Lesotho 1065.96 0 0.00
144 Botswana 1061.26 -6 -23.30
145 Burundi 1060.22 0 0.00
146 Lithuania 1056.34 0 0.00
147 Ethiopia 1055.36 0 0.00
148 Yemen 1049.49 0 0.66
149 Singapore 1046.70 2 6.27
150 New Caledonia 1042.62 0 0.00
151 Guyana 1041.90 0 0.00
152 Hong Kong 1038.14 0 0.00
153 Solomon Islands 1037.10 -1 -2.75
154 St. Kitts and Nevis 1035.25 0 0.00
155 Fiji 1026.98 0 -2.71
156 Puerto Rico 1020.07 0 0.00
157 Tahiti 1019.04 0 0.00
158 Moldova 1012.64 0 0.00
159 Eswatini 1010.52 0 0.00
160 Vanuatu 1000.86 0 3.85
161 Malta 996.59 0 0.00
162 Afghanistan 991.19 0 0.00
163 Myanmar 990.81 0 0.00
164 Grenada 989.59 0 0.00
165 Antigua and Barbuda 986.58 0 0.00
166 Cuba 980.49 0 0.00
166 St. Lucia 980.28 0 0.00
168 Papua New Guinea 977.77 2 2.87
169 South Sudan 977.50 -1 -1.20
170 Bermuda 976.87 0 0.00
171 St. Vincent and the Grenadines 963.74 0 0.00
172 Andorra 949.44 0 0.00
173 Maldives 945.02 0 0.00
174 Taiwan 938.21 0 0.00
175 Montserrat 916.75 0 0.00
176 Mauritius 915.51 0 0.00
177 Chad 914.65 0 0.00
178 Barbados 914.42 0 0.00
179 Cambodia 911.54 0 0.00
180 Bangladesh 911.19 0 0.00
181 Belize 910.74 0 0.00
182 Nepal 902.44 0 0.00
183 Dominica 901.37 0 0.00
184 American Samoa 883.17 0 0.00
185 Mongolia 879.75 0 0.00
186 Cook Islands 877.53 0 0.00
187 Samoa 876.41 0 0.00
188 Brunei 875.78 0 0.00
189 São Tomé and Príncipe 871.63 0 0.00
190 Laos 871.16 -3 -5.89
191 Aruba 867.94 0 0.00
192 Bhutan 867.86 0 0.00
193 Macao 865.29 0 0.00
194 Sri Lanka 857.40 0 0.00
195 Eritrea 855.56 0 0.00
196 Cayman Islands 851.74 0 0.00
197 Djibouti 847.03 0 -0.86
198 Tonga 835.64 0 0.00
199 Timor Leste 835.55 0 0.00
200 Pakistan 833.16 0 0.00
201 Somalia 828.90 0 1.83
202 Guam 823.08 0 0.00
203 Gibraltar 818.03 0 0.00
204 Seychelles 805.33 0 0.00
205 Turks and Caicos Islands 803.98 0 0.00
206 Liechtenstein 799.80 0 0.00
207 Bahamas 796.60 0 0.00
208 US Virgin Islands 776.60 0 0.00
209 British Virgin Islands 776.54 0 0.00
210 Anguilla 759.78 0 0.00
211 San Marino 726.03 0 0.00
