India 144 in FIFA rankings

European champions Spain remained on top of the soccer world rankings for a fifth successive month following the publication of the latest FIFA standings on Wednesday.

Spain celebrated back-to-back World Cup qualifying victories over Belgium and Estonia in October to maintain their perfect record in the campaign so far.

Germany, who also won twice in October, have climbed back into second place at the expense of Italy with the world champions paying the price for last month's goalless World Cup qualifying draw in Bulgaria.

India continued its upward movement in the charts besides breaking into the top 20 among Asian countries in the latest rankings. They gained four places from the October ratings and are now ranked 144, having tallied 174 points. They are also ranked 20th in Asia despite the national team not having played a single match in the past month.

After failing to qualify for Euro 2008, England saw their stock improve as they re-entered the top 10 for the first time since the June tournament.

England, who beat Kazakhstan and Belarus in World Cup qualifying last month, are one of only three European sides, along with Spain and Netherlands, to have won all their qualifiers to date.

Brazil, the highest ranked of the non-European teams, slipped one place to fifth on Monday, mainly due to their goalless home draw against Colombia on Oct. 15.

FIFA rankings (previous position in brackets):

1. (1) Spain

2. (3) Germany

3. (2) Italy

4. (5) Netherlands

5. (4) Brazil

6. (7) Argentina

7. (6) Croatia

8. (9) Russia

9. (8) Czech Republic

10= (10) Portugal

10= (14) England