Spain shot to the top of the world football rankings for the first time on Wednesday courtesy of its Euro 2008 title won on Sunday.

The European championships brought a major shake-up in the rankings issued by the ruling body FIFA, with Argentina plunging from first to sixth place and Brazil also no longer in the top three.

Spain lead the way with 1557 points, climbing from fourth place to become only the fifth team in the ranking's 15-year history to climb to the top. The others are Germany, Brazil, Italy and Argentina.

World champions Italy are second with 1404 and the losing Euro finalists Germany have 1,364.

Brazil dropped from second to fourth with 1344 points, followed by the Netherlands (up five places with 1299), Argentina (1298), Croatia (up eight places, 1282), the Czech Republic (1146), Portugal (1104) and France (1053).

Euro semi-finalists Turkey climbed six places to 14th, while the 2004 champs Greece plunged from 10 to 18. Non-qualified England dropped six places to 15th.

Sapa

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