Wales have reached their highest ever position in the FIFA world rankings by rising 15 places to 22 . Inspired by Real Madrid 's Gareth Bale , they were the biggest movers at the top end of the list with 153 points ahead of the April rankings after beating Israel 3-0 in their Euro 2016 qualifier in Haifa . Chris Coleman 's side have surpassed the 27th spot achieved by Terry Yorath 's men back in 1993 . Gareth Bale celebrates a goal in his double against Israel in a win that 's seen Wales climb to world No 22 . Wales climb 15 positions in the April FIFA World Rankings which were released on Thursday . Meanwhile , England have climbed three places to 14 after beating Lithuania in Euro 2016 qualifying and drawing a friendly in Italy last month , while Scotland are up 10 spots to 29 . Northern Ireland are up one to 42 and the Republic of Ireland have climbed four places to 62 . Belgium rose to its highest-ever spot at No 3 in the rankings , which are still led by World Cup winner Germany followed by Argentina . Vincent Kompany 's side overtook Radamel Falcao 's Colombia , who are now world No 4 . Belgium , who also beat Israel , rise to third for the first time ranked only behind Germany and Argentina . Brazil , who beat France in a friendly last month as their resurgence under new boss Dunga continues following their embarrassing exit from the World Cup , rose to No 5 and swapped places with the Netherlands at No 6 . Switzerland and Spain return to the top 10 , at nine and 10 , respectively . Costa Rica fell two spots to No 15 but still lead CONCACAF nations . Mexico rose three positions though to No 18 while the United States climbed five places to be 27th . Algeria is Africa 's best at No 21 , and No 40 Iran is the best-ranked Asian team . Brazil have risen to No 5 in the world , switching places with Holland , while Alex Sanchez 's Chile are 16th . They 'll be joined by Japan , South Korea , Australia , United Arab Emirates , Uzbekistan , China and Iraq among the top seeds for the Asian qualifying draw for the World Cup in Russia in 2018 , in which 40 teams are split into eight groups of five ahead of Tuesday 's draw . Bhutan has jumped 46 places from the foot of the rankings to 163rd after recording their first ever World Cup qualifying victories . The Himalayan nation beat Sri Lanka 1-0 in Colombo and 2-1 in Thimphu last month to advance to the second round of Asian qualifying . Anguilla are now the lowest-ranked international side at No 209 after losing 8-0 on aggregate to Nicaragua in the first round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying last month . Seeding for the European qualifying groups will be decided by the July rankings ahead of the July 25 draw in St. Petersburg , Russia . 1 . Germany ( 1 ) 2 . Argentina ( 2 ) 3 . Belgium ( 4 ) 4 . Colombia ( 3 ) 5 . Brazil ( 6 ) 6 . Netherlands ( 5 ) 7 . Portugal ( 7 ) 8 . Uruguay ( 9 ) 9 . Switzerland ( 12 ) 10 . Spain ( 11 ) 11 . France ( 8 ) 12 . Romania ( 14 ) 13 . Italy ( 10 ) 14 . England ( 17 ) 15 . Costa Rica ( 13 ) 16 . Chile ( 15 ) 17 . Croatia ( 19 ) 18 . Mexico ( 21 ) 19 . Czech Republic ( 16 ) 20 . Slovakia ( 22 ) 22 . Wales ( 37 ) 27 . USA ( 32 ) 29 . Scotland ( 39 ) 42 . Northern Ireland ( 43 ) 62 . Republic of Ireland ( 66 ) 209 . Anguilla ( 208 ) ( March ranking in brackets )
Chris Coleman 's Wales rose 15 places to 22 in the FIFA World Rankings . Belgium switched places with Colombia to reach No 3 for the first time . England have climbed three places to 14 after win over Lithuania . TL;DR The top 10 teams from last week are as follows : World Cup finalists Germany and Argentina retain first and second spot .