ZURICH (Switzerland), Nov 12: European champion Spain continued its reign as world’s top-ranked national team in the latest FIFA rankings published Wednesday.

Germany, which lost the Euro 2008 final to Spain, climbed one place to second, while England returned to the world’s top 10.

World champion Italy dropped a place to third and the Netherlands rose one to fourth. Brazil remained the best South American nation despite falling to fifth while Argentina moved up a place to sixth.

Euro 2008 semi-finalist Russia climbed again and was now eighth, its best ranking since 1997.

Cameroon was the leader among African nations in 14th, down two places; Israel was up one to a best-ever 15th.

The United States is the top CONCACAF nation, one above rival Mexico, despite dropping three places at 24th.

Australia leads the Asian confederation at No.37, one ahead of Japan which dropped six rungs.

Rankings (previous month’s ranking in parentheses):

1. Spain (1), 1,657 points; 2. Germany (3), 1,413; 3. Italy (2), 1,356; 4. Netherlands (5), 1,306; 5. Brazil (4), 1,286; 6. Argentina (7), 1,181; 7. Croatia (6), 1,158; 8. Russia (9), 1,079; 9. Czech Republic (8), 1,062; 10. (tie) Portugal (10), 1,058; 10. (tie) England (14), 1,058; 12. France (11), 1,035; 13. Turkey (13), 1,032; 14. Cameroon (12), 1,013; 15. Israel (16), 1,004; 16. Bulgaria (15), 951; 17. Paraguay (22), 934; 18. Greece (17), 907; 19. Romania (18), 892; 20. Ukraine (19) 883; 21. Egypt (22), 879; 22. Nigeria (27), 852; 23. Uruguay (20), 838; 24. USA (21), 834; 25. Mexico (24), 827.—AP