Argentina still 2 in the world

July 3, 2002

PARIS, July 3 (AFP) -- World champions Brazil have disloged fallen giants France from the top of the FIFA world rankings released on Wednesday by football's world governing body.

Brazil, who clinched their record fifth World Cup with a 2-0 win over Germany on Sunday, have pushed first-round losers France and Argentina into joint second spot.

World Cup runners-up Germany, who had fallen out of the top 10 for the first time in their history after a poor qualifying campaign, have jumped up six spots to fifth.

Spain have also advanced four places up to fourth, although they lost in the quarter-finals to co-hosts South Korea, who themselves made a massive leap of 18 places to claim 22nd.

Turkey, who finished third in the World Cup, are in 12th spot after moving up 10 places. African quarter-finalists Senegal sit in 31st spot following an impressive campaign which included a win over former champions France.

FIFA Top 20

1. Brazil 852 points, 2=. Argentina 784, 2=. France 784, 4. Spain 774, 5. Germany 765, 6. Mexico 739, 7. Portugal 731, 8. England 728, 9. Colombia 725, 10. Italy 720, 11. USA 712, 12. Turkey 707, 13. Denmark 704, 14. Ireland 699, 15. The Netherlands 697, 16. Yugoslavia 689, 17. Cameroon 680, 18. Paraguay 679, 19. Belgium 678, 20. Sweden 674