Ireland's FIFA ranking unchanged

The Republic of Ireland have remained in 14th spot of the FIFA world rankings despite losing their opening two matches of the…

The Republic of Ireland have remained in 14th spot of the FIFA world rankings despite losing their opening two matches of the Euro 2004 qualifying campaign.

England and Holland are the major climbers of the rankings with Sven-Goran Eriksson's men moving up three places to sixth while the Dutch, who have won both their opening Euro 2004 qualifiers, also rose three spots to ninth.

Having stunned Italy 2-1 in Cardiff last week - Wales have made major progress, moving up 15 places to 61st while Northern Ireland remain unaltered in 98th respectively.

Topping the pile are World Cup winners Brazil although France have closed the gap on the World Cup winners to 65 points.

READ MORE

Italy's indifferent form has seen them slip out of the top 10. The Azzurri were sixth at the end of 2001 but have dropped down the rankings to 11th.