Argentina returned to the top of the world rankings on ​Thursday right in time for their ‌World Cup title defense as France dropped two spots to third.

Argentina, who kick ​off their World Cup campaign ​against Algeria on Tuesday in Kansas ⁠City, have not led the ​ranking since July 2025 but moved up ​two spots after victories in warm-up fixtures against Iceland and Honduras.

They are one place ​ahead of Spain, whose ranking ​remained unchanged. France were unseated as the top-ranked ‌team ⁠after losing to Ivory Coast and beating Northern Ireland, dropping into third ahead of England and Portugal.

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Brazil, Morocco, ​the ​Netherlands, Belgium ⁠and Germany rounded out the top 10.

The rankings could ​impact this year's expanded 48-team ​World ⁠Cup as they will serve as the final tiebreaker should two or ⁠more ​teams be equal on ​points after the group stage.