Watch out world because the Boys in Green have officially hit the big time after making the top 20 of the FIFA world rankings.
In truth, Ireland didn’t have to do much to make the top 20; in fact we didn’t have to do anything at all. Since our last game against Estonia in November, we have fluctuated between 21st and 23rd place until this month, which culminated in a 20th place ranking for Giovanni Trapattoni and his squad, sandwiched between Bosnia and Herzogovina in 19th and Mexico in 21st.
While Ireland might have been inactive for the last few months, the ranking is vindication of our impressive results over the last couple of years and although Trapattoni is often vilified for his serious approach to friendlies, our performances in those have also helped us rocket up the rankings.
As refreshing as our 20th place spot is, the rankings still make for ominous viewing in terms of the Euros in the summer as group opponents Spain (1st), Italy (8th) and Croatia (9th) are still way in front, while only three teams – Czech Republic and host nations Poland and Ukraine – are ranked lower than Ireland.
Not surprisingly, Spain continue to top the pile, but Germany, who were incredibly impressive during qualifying, have nipped ahead of Holland in second.
Elsewhere, Zambia, under the guidance of the extremely smooth Herve Renard, made it into the top 50 for the first time since 2001 after their incredible African Cup of Nations triumph, while with Denmark leapfrogging Argentina into tenth place, eight of the top ten teams are European.
It just shows the size of the task ahead of us in the summer, but now that we’ve made the top 20, the sky’s the limit.
FIFA Rankings:
1. Spain
2. Germany
3. Netherlands
4. Uruguay
5. England
6. Portugal
7. Brazil
8. Italy
9. Croatia
10. Denmark
20. Republic of Ireland
To see the FIFA rankings in full, click here.
