FIFA World Ranking: top male soccer teams 2022

First introduced in December 1992, the FIFA men's world rankings show the best international soccer teams in the world based on recent match results and tournament performances. Brazil currently sit top of the FIFA world rankings, just ahead of Argentina.

Brazil back on top

Thanks to their five World Cup titles, the most World Cup wins by any country, the Brazilian men's national team has spent considerable time at the top of the FIFA world rankings. Following their success at the 1994 World Cup, the team spent almost seven years at the top of the pile, and a further five years leading the way following victory at the 2002 tournament. However, despite the fact that Brazil is still the all-time top ranking team based on number of points won at World Cups, the country has found success hard to come by in recent tournaments. Following humiliation at the hands of Germany in semi finals on the 2014 World Cup, the country was looking to restore national pride in the 2018 edition of the tournament. Going into the 2018 World Cup, some of the leading players based on market value in the Brazil team were valued at an excess of 100 million U.S. dollars, but the team was still disappointingly knocked out in the quarter finals by Belgium. Some pride was restored in March 2022, however, when Brazil climbed back to the top of the FIFA world rankings for the first time in five years.

USA top the women's rankings

The FIFA women’s ranking was first released in 2003. In the years since, only Germany and the United States have claimed the top spot, with the former currently occupying first place. The United States women's national soccer team (USWNT) is one of the most successful international soccer teams of all time, having won a total of four FIFA Women's World Cups, the last time in France in 2019, as well as four Olympic women's gold medals. Such is the success of the U.S. women's national team that they generated soccer game event revenue of 50.8 million U.S. dollars since winning the 2015 World Cup, marginally higher than their male counterparts.