Canadian men reach record high, climbing to No. 28 in FIFA world rankings

The Canadian men continue to reach new heights under coach Jesse Marsch, climbing two places to a career-high No. 28 in the latest FIFA world rankings.

Canada was ranked 49th when the American coach took over in May 2024. The Canadians have climbed steadily since to No. 48, 40, 38 and 35, surpassing its previous high of No. 33 (set in February 2022 under former coach John Herdman after an impressive World Cup qualifying run) when it reached No. 31 in November.

Canada closed out the year unchanged at No. 31 before setting a new mark in April at No. 30.

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Since then, the Canadians beat Ukraine 4-2 and lost to Ivory Coast in a penalty shootout in the Canadian Shield Tournament and defeated Honduras 6-0 and El Salvador 2-0, drawn Curacao 1-1, and lost a penalty shootout to Guatemala at the Concacaf Gold Cup.

Canada's lowest ranking was No. 122 in October 2014.

The top five teams in the new rankings are unchanged with Argentina No. 1 followed by Spain, France, England and Brazil. Portugal jumps one place to No. 6, dropping the Netherlands to No. 7. Belgium is unchanged at No. 8 with Germany and Croatia each climbing one spot to No. 9 and No. 10, respectively.

Italy drops two places to No. 11.

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Gold Cup winner Mexico jumps four spots to No. 13, behind unchanged Morocco, to leapfrog the U.S. and take over top spot in Concacaf. The Americans, beaten 2-1 by Mexico in Sunday's Gold Cup final, moved up one place to No. 15.

Canada ranks third in Concacaf, which covers North and Central America and the Caribbean.

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