The African champions slipped one place to lie 39th, leapfrogged by North African rivals Morocco, who jumped 12 places to 35th spot.

Egypt's slide was largely affected by a disappointing 1-1 draw at Mauritania in the African Nations Cup qualifiers, whereas the Moroccans beat Zimbabwe 2-0.

At the top, world champions Italy remained in charge of the table after two straight away wins in the Euro 2008 qualifiers against Faroe Islands and Lithuania.

France's back-to-back wins against Ukraine and Georgia, led them to second spot at the expense of Brazil, who registered two friendly draws at Turkey and England.

The biggest move came from European minnows Armenia, who jumped 48 spots to 80th after stunning Group A leaders Poland with a 1-0 victory in the Euro qualifiers.

The biggest losers were New Zealand, who went down 27 places to lie 154th.

Top 10 teams:

1. Italy

2. France

3. Brazil

4. Germany

5. Argentina

6. Portugal

7. Spain

8. England

9. Holland

10. Czech Republic

Top 5 Arab teams:

35. Morocco

39. Egypt

45. Tunisia

62. Saudi Arabia

67. Algeria

Top 5 African teams

14. Cameroon

19. Ghana

20. Ivory Coast

32. Nigeria

35. Morocco