Italy rises up FIFA rankings despite missing out on World Cup

The controversial FIFA World Ranking system has succeeded in puzzling football fans once more after Italy, which failed to reach a World Cup for the first time since 1958, vaulted above England in November's updates.

Italy's ascent was helped by World Cup-bound England dropping three places despite commendable goalless friendly draws with Germany and Brazil this month. The Azzurri, meanwhile, lost 1-0 over two legs of a play-off with Sweden for a place at next summer's showpiece in Russia.

The rise is due to the greater significance FIFA puts on competitive fixtures over friendly matches. Using the world governing body's current ranking procedure, a FIFA World Cup qualifier is 250 percent more important than a friendly.

Related: FIFA rankings review could lose 'loophole' used by top seed Poland

The pots for the 2018 World Cup were determined using the previous installment of the rankings. If the latest ordering was used, numerous changes would occur to how the group draw is conducted on Dec. 1, including France dropping into pot 2 and having its place among the top-seeded teams replaced by Spain.

Here is the FIFA World Ranking top 20:

1. Germany

2. Brazil

3. Portugal

4. Argentina

5. Belgium

6. Spain

7. Poland

8. Switzerland

9. France

10. Chile

11. Peru

12. Denmark

13. Colombia

14. Italy

15. England

16. Mexico

17. Croatia

18. Sweden

19. Wales

20. Netherlands

Others:

24. United States

= Northern Ireland

32. Ireland

= Scotland

39. Australia

63. Saudi Arabia (lowest-ranked team at World Cup)

94. Canada