Wales climb to No 11 in FIFA world rankings - above England
Friday 8 July 2016 15:54, UK
Wales will climb to 11th in the FIFA world rankings - making them the top-ranked British team - as a result of their Euro 2016 heroics.
Chris Coleman's men went into the tournament ranked 26th, below England, but they will be up 15 places when the new list is published next week, climbing above their old rivals.
Gareth Bale and his team-mates returned to a heroes' welcome in Cardiff after their shock exploits in France, where they fell 2-0 to Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal in the semi-finals.
They beat Slovakia, Russia, Northern Ireland and Belgium, the world's second-ranked team, to reach the last four.
"The rankings can change pretty quickly, so we mustn't get too carried away with being the top-ranked British country," said Coleman, whose country were ranked 117th in 2011.
"But it's always nice to be up there. It's especially nice to see when you're a country whose previous high was around 35, 40 or 45.
"Sometimes we've even dropped out of the top 100 during some bad times. So when you start toying around the top 10, that's a good feeling.
"But we can't get too carried away because the rankings can shift pretty quickly."
