Republic of Ireland rise to 48th in new Fifa world rankings 

RISE: Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny. Pic: Seb Daly/Sportsfile

The Republic of Ireland have moved up one place in the Fifa rankings to end 2022 in 48th place.

Last month’s narrow 1-0 win over a Maltese side ranked 168 in the world supplied a small sliver of consolation following a disappointing year when Stephen Kenny’s target of topping the Uefa Nations League group fell well short into third.

Overall, in 2022, Ireland won four of their 10 games – against Lithuania, Scotland, Armenia and Malta – losing the same amount and drew twice.

The team’s struggles since Kenny took charge in early 2020 have been reflected in the standings, which factor in results from all matches including friendlies, with Ireland at one stage slipping outside the top 50 in October 2021.

They face France, Netherlands, Greece and Gibraltar in next year’s Euro 2024 qualification group, with the top two advancing to the finals in Germany.

Elsewhere on the list released by Fifa on Thursday, newly crowned World champions Argentina rise to second but Brazil remain at the summit. Beaten finalists France are up to third.

Dropping out of it are Belgium (4th, minus 2), after they failed to reach the knockout phase at Qatar 2022. England (5th, -) complete the top five.

On the back of their respective runs to the last four of the World Cup, Croatia (7th, plus 5) and Morocco (11th, plus 11) have both made spectacular jumps.

The Atlas Lions are the year’s highest climbers in fact, having collected no fewer than 142 points over the last 12 months.

Similarly, Australia (27th, plus 11) and Cameroon (33rd, plus 10) have World Cup performances to thank for their climbs of 11 and 10 places respectively, while Saudi Arabia (49th, plus 2), who beat Argentina in the group phase in Qatar move into the top 50, as do Burkina Faso (50th, plus 4).

In total, seven teams have risen by more than ten places in the Ranking since December 2021: Gambia (126th, plus 24), Morocco (11th, plus 17), Costa Rica (32nd, plus 17), Cameroon (33rd, plus 17), Equatorial Guinea (98th, plus 16), Indonesia (151st, plus 13) and Cuba (168th, plus 11).