Brazilian football has a lot to be joyous about in the recent past, with the Samba boys becoming the first team to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, apart from the hosts themselves.
On Thursday, Brazil had more reason to rejoice as they recaptured the top spot in the Fifa Men’s rankings for the first time since the June of 2010, when the final rankings were released before 32 teams headed to South Africa for the World Cup, where the team lost at the quarterfinal stage.
The South American heavyweights have been unbeaten since coach Tite took over, winning eight World Cup qualifiers and a friendly, the ‘Chapocoense benefit’ match against Colombia. They were languishing in sixth position when their new coach took over, and have now sealed a place in Russia with three rounds of qualifying games yet to come.
In this seven-year stretch, they have also witnessed their lowest standing in the Fifa rankings era, when they fell to 22nd in July 2013, as well as their lowest year-end ranking of 18, in 2012. The rankings were established in 1993 and between 1994 and 2006, Brazil ended the year ranked first on all occasions barring the year 2001.
They dislodged Argentina at the top of the rankings, with world champions Germany on third. Uruguay were the big losers, dropping six places to 15th while the Netherlands’ alarming slump continued as the Oranje slipped 11 places to their lowest ever rank of 32.