Brazil dethroned arch-rivals Argentina and returned to the summit of football’s world rankings for the first time in almost seven years, the ruling body FIFA published on Thursday.

World Cup qualifying wins over Uruguay and Paraguay put the resurgent Selecao top for the first time since the 2010 World Cup with 1,661 points in the latest list of FIFA.

While Brazil have qualified as the first team for the 2018 tournament in Russia, Argentina are struggling and lost their last game in Bolivia as they slipped to second in the rankings with 1,603 points.

Reigning world champions Germany remain third and Chile fourth, Colombia climbed two into fifth, France remain sixth.

Belgium slipped two to seventh, Portugal and Spain stayed eighth and 10th while Switzerland rose from 11th to ninth.

Poland was one of six teams to record highest ranking in 11th place and Macedonia were the biggest movers when they climbed 33 spots into 133rd.

(dpa/NAN)