Argentina on Wednesday returned to the top spot in the monthly rankings issued the world soccer body FIFA, sending previous No. 1 Italy into third, while Brazil remains second.

Argentine owned the promotion to recent victories over Chile and Venezuela, both 2-0 and in the qualifiers for the 2010 South Africa World Cup. Argentine was last world No. 1 in March, and the leadership has changed six times this year.

European Cup results boosted France two spots to No. 4, dropped Germany one spot to No. 5, raised Spain one spot to No. 6, and dropped the Netherlands two spots to No. 7.

The Czech Republic rose to No. 9 after a 3-0 victory over Germany, returning to the top 10, while England dropped two spots to the 11th. Croatia remained 10th.

Leading the largest movers is Russia's 10-place move to 16th after defeating England. The next largest move in the top 50 was Mali's nine-place jump to 40th. Other big moves were Norway's eight place jump to 21st, Hungary's seven-place jump to 48th, and Senegal's six place jump to 34th.

In the lower reaches of the table, China dropped two spots to No. 91.

(Xinhua News Agency October 25, 2007)