1 Argentina 0 1523 0
2 Brazil 0 1502 o
3 Italy 0 1498 0
4 Spain 0 1349 0
5 Germany 0 1305 +7
6 Czech Repubk 0 1290 0
7 France 0 1243 0
8 Portugal 0 1241 0
9 Netherlands 0 1170 0
10 Croatia 0 1129 0
11 Greece 0 1114 0
12 England 0 1113 0
13 Romania 0 1088 0
14 Scotland 0 990 0
15 Mexico 0 982 0
16 Turkey 0 924 0
17 Colombia 0 905 -2
18 Bulgaria 0 881 0
19 Nigeria +1 879 +4
20 USA -1 876 0
21 Paraguay 0 873 0
22 Sweden +2 864 +11
23 Poland 862 0
24 Russia -1 861 0
25 Cameroon -1 853 0
26 Israel 0 852 0
27 Serbia 0 844 0
28 Uruguay 0 831 0
29 Norway 0 S27 0
30 Ukraine 0 824 0
31 Denmark 0 797 0
32 Northern Ireland 0 780 0
33 Guinea 0 765 +7
34 Japan 0 748 0
35 Egypt +4 733 +47
36 Ireland Repub.ic -1 731 0
37 Finland -1 697 0
38 Cote d’lvoire 688 0
39 Morocco 0 676 -10
40 Senegal -2 675 -12
41 Iran 0 663 -K
Korea Republic -1 663 0
43 Ghana 0 660 + 1
4d Switzerland 0 657 0
45 Chile 0 655 0
46 Tunisia +1 624 -15
47 Mali -1 622 -30
48 Australia 0 607 0
49 Belgium -0 600 0
50 Hungary 0 594 +6
51 Bosnia-Herzegovina 0 585 0
52 Ecuador +4 581 +8
53 Moldova -1 579 0
54 Honduras -1 578 0
Slovakia -1 578 0
56 Canada -1 576 0
57 Saudi Arabia +4 571 +19
58 Wales 560 0
59 Venezuela +3 557 +10
60 Macedonia -YR -2 556 0
6″. Lithuania -2 554 0
62 Belarus -2 553 0
63 Peru 0 508 0
64 Panama +3 494 +7
65 Cyprus + 1 493 0
66 Uzbekistan -2 492 -15
67 Iraq +1 474 +2
Zambia -2 474 -24
69 Costa Rica +i 467 + 1
70 Congo DR +4 454 + 17
71 Cuba 0 445 -8
72 Angola •hi 4^3 0
73 Haiti -4 438 -29
74 Togo -2 426 -22
75 Mozambique 0 419 0
76 Algeria +3 414 +3
Georgia +1 414 0
78 South Africa -1 411 -3
Trinidad and Tobago +3 411 +5
80 Albania 0 407 0
81 Slovenia +2 403 0
82 China PR -1 396 -10
83 Zimbabwe +4 389 +4
84 Equatorial Guinea +1 387 0
85 Armenia +8 386 +19
Latvia +1 386 0
87 Iceland +3 380 0
88 Qatar -1 379 -6
89 Congo t2 377 0
90 Austria 4-4 366 0
Ethiopia +15 366 +36
92 Oman -8 359 -32
93 Libya +2 351 +2
94 Benin. +3 349 +1
New Zealand +1 349 0
Sudan -2 349 -25

Since world football’s big guns have not been in action recently, it is a case of “as you were” at the top of January’s FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking, with leading trio Argentina, Brazil and Italy and the next 15 positions below them all unchanged.
The first movers are Nigeria (19-th, up 1), who recently defeated Sudan in a friendly match They, together with other African teams who have been active in the past few weeks, are this month’s most notable climbers.
Particularly worthy of mention is the progress made by Egypt (35-th, up 4) and Tunisia (46-th, up 1), while outside the top 50, Ethiopia (90-th , up 15) and Mauritania (112-th, up 18) have taken significant strides. Armenia (85-th, up 8) are also among this month’s gainers thanks to the devaluation of some poor results from last year.
Due to the low level of movement upanddowntheranking, the composition of the top 50 also remains unchanged compared to last month. Europe has the most teams in the top 50 (28), followed by Africa (10), South America (6), Asia (4) and North and Central America and the Caribbean (2). Meanwhile, New Zealand (94-th, up 1) remain Oceania’s top-ranked team.
Forty international “A” matches were taken into account in compiling the first FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking for 2008, all friendly matches, of which 28 were played in the second half of December 2007.

The FIFA Ethics Committee, chaired by Lord Sebastian Coe, will be playing a central role in the bidd.ng procedure for the 2018 FIFA World Cup™. To achieve this objective, :he independent judicial body agreed at its plenary meeting in Zurich on 18 December 2007 to broaden its remit. In future, in addition to the member associations, the confederations and the Executive Committee, Doth the chairman and the deputy chairman of the Ethics Committee will, at their discretion, also be able to seek clarification on issues brought to their attention through different channels and bodies from those stipulated in the FIFA Code of EThics. Lord Coe welcomed this expansion of the committee’s remit. “Having reported back to the committee on the correspondence and discussions I had in the summer with the FIFA administration, I have now received endorsement to strengthen the role of the committee,” he said. “The committee is now clearly positioned alongside the other judicial bodies of FIFA and will enjoy independence and support, benefiting from budgetary means, administrative and secretarial assistance as well as being able to seek legal advice where necessary.”
With respect to the 2018 FIFA World Cup™, the Ethics Committee agreed that it should have a pivotal function in overseeing the bidding. As FIFA will be producing the protocol for the bidding, the chairman, of the Ethics Committee was as,