Portugal, without even playing, moved into third spot of the FIFA rankings released on Thursday, as Argentina slipped to sixth.

It means Europe now occupies the top three places in the rankings, with Portugal sitting behind leaders Spain and Germany.

They are followed by four South American sides in Colombia (4th, up 1), Uruguay (5th, up 1), and arch-rivals Argentina (down 3) and Brazil (up 3), who share sixth position.

Only six matches were played over the past month, and FIFA said the majority of changes "can be attributed to the devaluation of matches from previous years, most of which were FIFA World Cup qualifiers and now have a greatly reduced weighting".

FIFA country rankings, as of April 10

1. Spain

2. Germany

3. Portugal (+1 place)

4. Colombia (+1)

5. Uruguay (+1)

6. Argentina (-3)

6. Brazil (+3)

8. Switzerland (-1)

9. Italy (-1)

10. Greece (+3)

11. England (+1)

12. Belgium (-2)

13. United States (+1)

14. Chile (+1)

15. Netherlands (-4)

16. France (+1)

17. Ukraine (+1)

18. Russia (+1)

19. Mexico (+1)