After the September international break, media outlets updated the live world rankings for each team. The official rankings will be updated on September 18th.
In the live rankings, Spain rose to the top, France to second, Argentina to third, and Brazil to sixth.
Among Asian teams, Japan remains the highest ranked at 19th, while China, having no matches during this international break, will remain at 94th.
The draw for the 2026 World Cup will take place on December 5th of this year. The 48 teams will be divided into 12 groups of four.
Pot 1 will consist of the host nation, the United States, Mexico, and Canada, plus the nine highest-ranked teams in the world.
The remaining three tiers will also be divided based on world rankings, with each group consisting of four teams from four different tiers.
In a previous interview, the Japan Football Association stated that it hopes to accelerate its points accumulation before the World Cup and strive to enter Pot 1. In the international match day that just ended, Japan played friendly matches with Mexico and the United States, achieving one draw and one loss.
Judging from the current situation, it is very difficult for Japan to enter the first-tier team. At the same time, Germany is not in the top nine and is likely to fall into the second tier after qualifying for the World Cup.
FIFA real-time rankings top ten:
- Spain
- France
- Argentina
- England
- Portugal
- Brazil
- Netherlands
- Belgium
- Croatia
- Italy
AFC real-time rankings:
- Japan (19)
- Iran (21)
- South Korea (23)
- Australia (25)
- Uzbekistan (52)
- Qatar (54)
- Iraq (58)
- Saudi Arabia (59)
- Jordan (62)
- UAE (64)
- Oman (78)
- Bahrain (90)
- Syria (93)
- China (94)