By Staff Reporter

It’s all change in Fifa’s world soccer rankings, following a busy March for internationals - with a total of 133 games played across the world.

Teams preparing for this summer’s World Cup in Russia grabbed most of the headlines, with current cup holders Germany remaining top of the table despite a draw and a loss in their two matches last month.

Belgium, meanwhile, climbed to third after their 4-0 thrashing of Saudi Arabia.

The biggest movers were the Kyrgyz Republic, which leapt up the rankings by 40 places with a whopping 142 points as they qualified for their inaugural Asian Cup with a win over Myanmar. 

The biggest losers were Bulgaria, who dropped 132 points, and Haiti, who fell 23 places in the rankings.

Elsewhere, Tunisia is now ranked 14th after receiving nine points and Uruguay now ranks 17th, after both recorded a pair of friendly victories in March. 

“The Eagles of Carthage, for their efforts, reached their best-ever ranking,” Fifa said in a statement.

The volume of games last month “was partly down to a glut of friendly fixtures,” Fifa adds, “but there was also competitive action, with qualifiers for the AFC Asian Cup making up 13 of those 133 matches.”

Oman (87th), Chinese Taipei (121st) and the Philippines (113th) all leapt up the table, partly as a result of their positive results in Asian Cup qualifiers.

The most games were played by Iran and Malaysia, who had three internationals each.

There were also best ever positions for the newest Fifa member associations, with Kosovo’s pair of friendly victories over Madagascar and Burkina Faso seeing them leap 24 places to 152nd, while Gibraltar’s 1-0 win over Latvia saw them jump 10 spots to 196th.

The next Fifa World Ranking will be published on 17 May.