#fifa-rankings

#fifa-rankings

This new format will see each qualifier placed into one of four pots, which will be based on their FIFA ranking. Teams will then be drawn one at a time, cycling between pots one to four, with a computer placing them into a random group, which takes into account any geographical restrictions, for example, that no countries from the same confederation can be in the same group, except UEFA, which can have two teams in a group.

Spain and Lamine Yamal took top spot from Argentina and Lionel Messi in the FIFA men's rankings published on Thursday, and lead for the first time since being dethroned as world champions in June 2014. Spain's two-win start to a 2026 World Cup qualifying group this month -- against Turkey and Bulgaria -- lifted the European champions up from second place behind 2022 World Cup winners Argentina, who fell to third.

Twenty-seven years have dragged by since without Scotland's men reaching a World Cup, a horrendous run that has bludgeoned the high standing of the nation's football team while casting them into the international wilderness for well over a generation. But how bad is it that it has been so pain-painstakingly long? Who is to blame, and can the Tartan Army dare to have a dream again?