The Russian national football team dropped from its previous 66th position to record low rank of 70 in the new FIFA monthly ranking list of national teams.
The ranking list placed the Russian national team with 457 points between the team of Guinea (69th place, 463 points) and Macedonia (71st place, 451 points).
"The recent flurry of pre-2018 FIFA World Cup Russia friendly matches has left its mark on the latest FIFA… World Ranking," FIFA’s statement reads. "While positions are maintained at the very top of the table, where Germany (1st, unchanged) and Brazil (2nd, unchanged) still lead the way, the Russia-bound duo of Poland (8th, up 2) and Uruguay (14th, up 3) have succeeded in making strides within the top 20."
The current frontrunners in FIFA’s top-ten rankings are reigning World Champions Germany (1,558 points), followed by Brazil (1,431), Belgium (1,298), Portugal (1,274), Argentina (1,241), Switzerland (1,199), France (1,198), Poland (1,183), Chile (1,135) and Spain (1,126).
"The ranking makes less pleasant reading for Spain (10th, down 2), who have swapped places with the Poles, as well as for Tunisia (21st, down 7)," according to the statement.
The matches of the 2018 World Cup will be held between June 14 and July 15 at 12 stadiums located in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi, Kazan, Saransk, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg and Samara.
