London: Brazil stayed top of FIFA's rankings released on Wednesday but former champions France and Argentina lost ground with the World Cup less than a month away.
Brazil, champions and favourites for the World Cup starting in Germany on June 9, lead the Czech Republic with the Netherlands in third place.
Mexico rose two places to fourth after a recent friendly win over the Democratic Republic of Congo, while the United States dropped one position to join Spain in equal fifth.
Portugal climbed one spot to take seventh place from France, who fell to eighth.
Argentina, also among the World Cup favourites, dropped one place to ninth.
On July 12, three days after the World Cup final, FIFA will publish new world rankings based on a simplified method of calculation to be announced during the last week of the tournament.
The evaluation period will be cut from eight to four years.
Rankings (Last month's position in brackets)
1. Brazil (1) 827 points 2. Czech Republic (2) 772 3. Netherlands (3) 768 4. Mexico (6) 758 5= United States (4) 756 5= Spain (5) 756 7. Portugal (8) 750 8. France (7) 749 9. Argentina (8) 746 10. England (10) 741 11= Nigeria (12) 736 11= Denmark (11) 736 13. Italy (14) 728 14. Turkey (13) 726 15. Cameroon (15) 722 16. Sweden (16) 709 17. Egypt (18) 708 18. Japan (17) 705 19. Germany (19) 696 20. Greece (19) 694
Rankings for World Cup participants outside top 20
21. Tunisia (21) 693 23= Iran (22) 686 23= Croatia (24) 686 26. Costa Rica (26) 683 29= Poland (28) 677 29= South Korea (30) 677 32. Ivory Coast (32) 669 33. Paraguay (33) 653 34. Saudi Arabia (34) 651 35. Switzerland (35) 648 39. Ecuador (39) 631 42. Australia (44) 612 44. Serbia and Montenegro (46) 610 45. Ukraine (41) 609 47. Trinidad and Tobago (47) 604 48. Ghana (50) 600 57. Angola (58) 581 61. Togo (63) 569
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