The Stiles Council: the England national football team

I’m joking, of course, but England have indeed dropped a place to seventh in April’s FIFA World Rankings.

England’s drop is as meaningless as ever, but it does come as part of a new-look top ten. Spain stay in first, with the Netherlands dropping two into fourth to leave Germany and Uruguay in second and third. Portugal have jumped past Brazil (now sixth) and England (seventh) into fifth, with Croatia, Denmark and Argentina now completing the top ten. That’s right, folks. Denmark.

England’s UEFA Euro 2012 Group D opponents France and Sweden remain in 16th and 17th respectively, with Ukraine also holding their position in 49th. In terms of our neighbours, Republic of Ireland step up to 18th, Wales leap into 41st, Scotland move into the top 50 and 48th, and Northern Ireland endure a significant drop to 100th.

The most important spots are those near the bottom (ooh er), and there hasn’t been much movement (ooh er) down there this month. Turks & Caicos Islands, San Marino, Monserrat, Andorra and Timor-Leste share last place, with Mauritania now sitting smugly a place above them.