A victory in the League of Nations changes everything.
Thanks to its double success against Belgium and Spain in early October, France regained the podium in the Fifa ranking that it had abandoned a month earlier in (de) favor of the playoff matches of the 2022 World Cup.
The Blues (1,779.24 pts) are in third place behind Belgium (1,832.33) which feels very strongly the breath of Brazil (1,820.36).
The Red Devils, in the lead for three years after having dethroned… France, have indeed lost their two Nations League matches while the Brazilians were winning strings together.
The reigning world champions kick England off the podium.
The English are even downgraded to fifth place, behind Italy, European champion this summer and third in the League of Nations.
🏆 Karim @Benzema 🇫🇷 wins the Goal of the tournament!
🔥👏👏
It was you who elected this nugget registered in the final of the #NationsLeague 💪 @equipedefrance pic.twitter.com/eTTGYlqtxn
- UEFA EURO 2024 🇫🇷 (@ EURO2024FRA) October 13, 2021
Before the semi-final of the League of Nations France - Belgium (3-2), Noël Le Graët, president of the French federation, had used the Fifa ranking as a curious argument for the motivation of the troops.
"We must get closer to them in the Fifa ranking, he had slipped them in substance, it is not logical that there is such a difference ..."
It is not known if his words had any impact on the performance of Didier Deschamps' men, who were down 0-2 at the break before overthrowing the Belgians in the second half thanks to goals from Benzema, Mbappé (on penalty) and Théo. Hernandez.
Three days later, Hugo Lloris' teammates were also - briefly - ahead of Spain before conquering the trophy on a sumptuous goal from Benzema and an achievement from Mbappé.
