Estonia climb five places in FIFA rankings as Latvia suffer major drop

Estonia’s five-place rise, from 127th to 122nd, follows an unbeaten four-match Nations League window under head coach Jürgen Henn. The Baltic Cup winners began their League C campaign with consecutive away draws against Iceland and Bulgaria before defeating Luxembourg 1-0 at home. They then completed the international window with another goalless draw against Iceland in Tallinn, collecting six points from their opening four matches.

Only 12 national teams worldwide managed to climb at least five places following the latest international window. Rwanda, who faced Estonia in March, and the Dominican Republic recorded the biggest improvements, both rising nine positions, from 128th to 119th and 144th to 135th respectively. Among European nations, Greece and Northern Ireland also enjoyed significant progress, each climbing six places following successful starts to their Nations League campaigns.

While Estonia have plenty of reasons for optimism, the situation is considerably less encouraging for their southern neighbours Latvia.

Paolo Nicolato’s side collected just one point from four Nations League matches, resulting in a six-place fall from 137th to 143rd in the FIFA rankings. It represents the joint-second-largest decline worldwide in the latest update and the joint-largest among European nations, alongside Romania, who dropped from 52nd to 58th.

Latvia are now just five positions away from equalling their lowest-ever FIFA ranking of 148th, recorded in September 2017. With the national team struggling for results and performances during the latest international window, the latest rankings provide another indication of the difficult period Latvian football is experiencing.

Meanwhile, Lithuania have managed to move slightly further away from their own unwanted record, climbing one position to 148th in the world.

Under now-former head coach Edgaras Jankauskas, Lithuania recorded two victories during the September and October international window, defeating Liechtenstein and Andorra. They also faced Azerbaijan twice in the Nations League, recording one draw and suffering one defeat.

Although the results were not enough to save Jankauskas’ position, with the 51-year-old departing by mutual consent following the defeat in Azerbaijan, they helped Lithuania gain one place in the latest rankings.

Lithuania had fallen to 149th in June this year, equalling their lowest-ever FIFA ranking, previously recorded in December 2017.

Source: https://inside.fifa.com/fifa-rankings/world-ranking/men