PARIS: The Netherlands took top spot at the expense of world and European champions Spain in the latest FIFA rankings released on Wednesday.

Spain had held the position for over a year but a 2-1 friendly loss to Italy ensured the Dutch, World Cup runners-up, become the seventh team to occupy the top spot since rankings were created after Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

Copa America winners Uruguay, World Cup semi-finalists, become the top South American team in fifth as Brazil, who were beaten 3-2 by Germany in a friendly this month, dropping two places to sixth.

Germany stay third and England move up to fourth, while the make-up of the top 10 remains the same, with Italy, Portugal, Argentina and Croatia the other sides.

FIFA world ranking released on Wednesday (change in brackets):

1. Netherlands (+1)2. Spain (-1)3. Germany4. England (+2)5. Uruguay6. Brazil (-2)7. Italy (+1)8. Portugal (-1)9. Argentina (+1)10. Croatia (-1)11. Chile12. Norway13. Russia (+5)14. Greece (-1)15. Ivory Coast (-1)