> World champions Argentina reclaim second place, Asia's top eight secure direct World Cup spots, while China's national team edges up one position without playing.
FIFA has recently released the latest men's national team world rankings for October 2025. **Spain continues to hold the top position**, consolidating the lead they reclaimed from Argentina in September.
**Argentina has climbed back to second place** thanks to strong performances, while France dropped to third after being held to a draw by Iceland.
The most notable change is **Germany's return to the top ten**, now ranked tenth, while Croatia fell out of the elite group to eleventh place.
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## 01 Global Ranking Landscape
In this edition of the rankings, European teams continue to demonstrate their dominance. **Spain has consolidated their top position with consecutive victories.**
World champions Argentina performed strongly, **successfully overtaking France to claim second place.**
Germany's change is particularly noteworthy, with impressive 4-0 and 1-0 victories over Luxembourg and Northern Ireland respectively, marking their successful return to the top ten.
The Netherlands also performed well, **climbing to sixth place above Brazil**, benefiting from Brazil's friendly match loss to Japan.
Beyond the competition for top ten positions, several mid-tier teams have shown significant progress. Hungary (37th, up 4), Scotland (38th, up 5), Nigeria (41st, up 4), and Romania (47th, up 4) all achieved notable improvements.
## 02 Asian Teams' Performance
In the Asian region, **Japan, Iran, and South Korea maintain their positions as Asia's top three**, with world rankings of 19th, 21st, and 23rd respectively.
With the conclusion of the fourth round of Asian World Cup qualifiers, **Asia's top ten ranked teams have secured 8 direct World Cup spots and 2 playoff qualifications.**
Asian teams directly qualifying for the World Cup include: Japan, Iran, South Korea, Australia, Qatar, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan.
Meanwhile, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates will participate in playoffs, competing for intercontinental playoff spots.
The intense competition in World Cup qualifiers has directly affected team rankings. Greece and Sweden both fell eight positions, becoming the month's biggest decliners.
Meanwhile, the Faroe Islands, Lesotho, and Niger each climbed nine spots, emerging as the biggest winners.
**The next FIFA World Ranking will be published on November 21, 2025**, when the battle for World Cup tickets will intensify further.
