ZURICH, Jan 15: World champions Brazil stayed clear at the top of the opening FIFA world rankings for 2003 issued on Wednesday which for the first time included all 204 member associations of the governing body.

While Brazil (856 points) remained well ahead of France (787) and Spain (780) at the head of the FIFA standings, Afghanistan, playing their first full internationals for almost 20 years, entered the list in 204th spot with seven points.

Afghanistan’s entry into the official listing for the first time was good news for Montserrat who moved off the bottom of the table and up to 203rd place.

There was little change in the top 10 rankings with Turkey moving up from ninth to seventh and England slipping back from seventh to eighth and Mexico from eighth to ninth.

Outside the top 50, Thailand (54th, up 12) and Indonesia (84th, up 26), who battled it out for the Tiger Cup winners’ title in Jakarta, have both made considerable progress up the table as have several other year’s end competitors.

Notable gains were also achieved by Vietnam (93rd, up 15) and Malaysia (107th, up 20) in the wake of successful Tiger Cup performances.

(December’s position in brackets):

1. (1) Brazil 856 points

2. (2) France 787

3. (3) Spain 780

4. (4) Germany 765

5. (5) Argentina 750

6. (6) Netherlands 746

7. (9) Turkey 736

8. (7) England 734

9. (8) Mexico 732

10. (10) United States 723

11. (11) Portugal 710

12. (12) Denmark 707

13. (13) Italy 705

14. (14) Ireland 697

15. (15) Czech Republic 687

16. (17) Belgium 686

17. (16) Cameroon 684

18. (18) Paraguay 679

19. (19) Yugoslavia 677

20. (20) South Korea 669—Reuters