FIFA's world ranking has again put the Chinese men's team at 49th place although China lost to Kuwait at the world cup 2006 Asian qualifier last month. 
 
Brazil continues to top the list, followed by France, Argentina and Spain.

Czech republic moved one place to replace Netherlands at the fifth. Mexico has climbed two places into a tie for eighth with Portugal.

Japan moved up two places to 17th while South Korea moved one place to 24th.

FIFA's standings are based on a statistical analysis of countries' results over eight years, weighted according to how recently the matches were played, the strength of the opponents and the importance of each match.

(CRI November 11, 2004)