European champions Spain continue to top the FIFA`s world football rankings, with beaten finalists Germany moving up to second place, their highest for 10 years, in the new list published Wednesday, according to dpa .

World champions Italy slip a place to third while France drop out of the top 10 to 12th and five-time world Brazil fall to sixth, their lowest place since 1993.

Euro 2008 semi-finalist Russia move up one place to 10th for a first top 10 appearance since 1997, while Croatia jump from seventh to fifth for the highest ranking since reaching the 1998 World Cup semi-final.

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There have been only 30 internationals following a busy June featuring the European Championships and a large number of qualifying matches for the 2010 World Cup.

But football`s world governing body said a number of changes in the rankings resulted from the devaluation of some results from last year.

Top 10 in rankings: 1. Spain (1), 1,557 points; 2. Germany (3), 1,343; 3. Italy (2), 1,320; 4. Netherlands (5), 1,299; 5. Croatia (5), 1,282; 6. Brazil (4), 1,242; 7. Argentina (6), 1,219; 8. Czech Republic (8), 1,146; 9. Portugal (9), 1,122; 10. Russia (11), 1,023.

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DPA, Bangkok Post