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