New Zealand’s men’s national team have held their place in the FIFA men’s world rankings after their latest international matches against Finland and Chile.
FIFA’s dynamic ranking system — which provides updates as games are completed during international windows — has kept the All Whites #85 after their 2-0 loss to Finland and 4-1 against Chile in the FIFA Series at Eden Park.
Of the All Whites’ group opponents at the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup, Egypt rose two spots to #29 in the world, while Iran fell one place to #21.
Belgium held their #9 ranking.
In the latest revision, FIFA’s system has taken into account 166 men’s international matches, including the final qualifying stages for the FIFA Men’s World Cup.
The ranking revision maintains the positive trend for New Zealand that started with the appointment of Danny Hay as national coach in late 2019, and has continued with his successor, Danny Bazeley.
Bazeley became the interim head coach in February 2023, and was appointed in the role in July 2023.
The highest position ever achieved by New Zealand was 47th (in August 2002); the lowest was 161st (April-May 2016). The team leapt to 88th in late 2016 but declined to 122nd by late 2019.
The All Whites went to the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa ranked #78.
The latest revision shows France have climbed above Spain to take #1 placing of the 211 footballing nations whose performance is measured.
The last five years
All Whites rankings on April 5, 2026
How the rankings are calculated
Points are allocated to teams from their most recent games and are weighted using the following criteria:
Result of the match.
Home v away, or neutral ground.
Importance of the match.
Difference in ranking between the teams.
Beating a highly-rated team, away, and in a tournament, rather than a friendly, can boost a team’s momentum up the rankings.
A win over a lowly-rated team can have little impact.
Winning or losing, of course, is the most important criterion, but goal difference and goals scored are also taken into account.
READ MORE: The methodology used to rank teams >>>>>
Oceania rankings
The ratings of OFC nations, and movement since last rankings:
85 New Zealand
151 (-1) New Caledonia
153 (-1) Solomon Islands
154 (+1) Fiji
157 Tahiti
160 Vanuatu
168 (+2) Papua New Guinea
188 (-2) Cook Islands
190 Samoa
192 (-8) American Samoa
199 (-2) Tonga
Current top 10 teams
The leading international men’s teams, as ranked by FIFA, are:
1 (+2) France
2 (-1) Spain
3 (-1) Argentina
4 England
5 (+1) Portugal
6 (-1) Brazil
7 Netherlands
8 Morocco
9 Belgium
10 Germany
This story was first published on April 5, 2025
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