Zurich, July 18: World champions Germany emerged the top ranked team in the latest world football ranking list published by the Fifa, the sports highest governing body, on Thursday. The Germans, who accumulated 1,724 points to take the top slot, were ranked second before the beginning of the tournament.

[See Fifa's latest list of rankings]

Argentina, who lost to Germany 0-1 in the final, finished second in the list with 1,606 points, an improvement of three positions.

The Netherlands, who finished third in the 2014 edition, finished third in the list with 1,496 points. They were ranked 15 before the start of the World Cup.

Five-time champions Brazil, who hosted the latest edition, finished seventh in the list, down by four positions (1,241 points). They finished fourth in the tournament after losing 1-7 to Germany in the semifinal and 0-3 to the Netherlands in the third-place decider. Brazil's worst Fifa rank is 22 (in June 2013).

Among other teams, Costa Rica went up by 12 positions (from 28 to 16) while Colombia finished fourth in the list (up by four positions). Both these teams produced their best-ever results in the World Cup by reaching the quarterfinals. Colombia's James Rodriguez won the Golden Boot award in the just finished edition by scoring six goals in five matches. France, who lost 0-1 to Germany in the quarterfinals, also went up seven positions, from 10 to seven. Belgium, the fourth quarterfinalist, also went up by six positions.

Former champions Italy and England, both of whom failed to clear the first round, slipped by five and 10 positions, respectively.

India finished 151st in the list (144 points), an improvement of three positions.

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