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 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.
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 Curaçao 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.
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.
Canada’s next matches are against No. 48 Romania in Bucharest and No. 31 Wales in Swansea during the September FIFA window, followed by home and away friendlies in October against No. 24 Australia in Montréal and No. 14 Colombia in Harrison, N.J.
Co-host Canada opens World Cup play on June 12, 2026, in Toronto.
Costa Rica is the biggest climber in the new rankings, up 14 places to No. 40 after making the Gold Cup quarterfinals, where it lost to the U.S. in a penalty shootout. No. 66 Honduras, up nine places, and No. 100 Guatemala, up six places, also jump thanks to making the Gold Cup semifinals.
No. 70 Jamaica, No. 90 Haiti, No. 132 Congo and No. 171 Maldives each fell seven places.
FIFA says 202 matches were played since the last rankings.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 10
Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press