Hamburg, Oct 23: World champions Brazil stay top of the Fifa world rankings for October ahead of France, football's world governing body said yesterday.
Spain and Argentina remain third and fourth, with the Netherlands moving up from seventh in September to fifth spot and England staying sixth.
Germany improve from ninth to seventh ahead of three teams level in eighth place, Italy, Turkey and Mexico, with the Czech Republic slipping from ninth to 11th.
Asian teams showed the biggest gains after results in the qualifying rounds of the 2004 Asian Cup.

South Korea climbed 17 places to 22nd on the strength of three victories, replacing Japan (25th, down 1) as the top-ranking Asian team. Among teams in the top 50, Saudi Arabia (30th, up 19) and Kuwait (50th, up 28) also made major leaps.



October rankings (top 20): 1 Brazil (854 points) 2 France (827) 3 Spain (777) 4 Argentina (747) 5 Netherlands (746) 6 England (745) 7 Germany (744) 8 Italy (742) 8 Turkey (742) 8 Mexico (742) 11 Czech Republic (739) 12 United States (731) 13 Cameroon (711) 14 Denmark (707) 15 Ireland (705) 16 Belgium (696) 17 Portugal (686) 18 Sweden (681) 19 Costa Rica (680) 20 Croatia (664)


Bureau Report