*LONDON – World champions France predictably shot to the top of the FIFArankings published on Thursday while previous leaders Germany slumped to15th after their humiliating first round exit in Russia.*

*Pakistan stand at number 201 among the World Nations out of 204, whileIndia stands at No. 96.*

The rankings were the first to be issued since France beat Croatia 4-2 inthe World Cup final on July 15 and also the first since FIFA replaced itsmuch-criticised previous formula.

France were followed by Belgium, the team they beat 1-0 in the semi-finals,with Brazil dropping one place to third after their quarter-final exitagainst the Belgians. Surprise finalists Croatia leapt from 20th to fourth.

Quarter-finalists Uruguay climbed nine places to fifth while England’s runto the semi-finals took them up to sixth place from a previous twelfth.

Argentina dropped to 11th after a chaotic campaign which included a 3-0group stage defeat by Croatia on the way to a last 16 exit against Francewhere they lost 4-3.

Hosts Russia, who began the tournament at a modest 71st place, leapt 21spots after their surprise run to the quarter-finals.

FIFA said its new formula, approved by the FIFA Council before the WorldCup, relied on adding or subtracting points, depending on the results ofmatches, rather than averaging points over a given period of time.

The global soccer governing body said the new system was developed over twoyears during which “a large number of different algorithms was tested andextensively discussed”.

FIFA said the new system would no longer weight matches according to whichregion they were played in and this would provide “fair and equalopportunities for all teams across all confederations”.

FIFA said the removal of an annual average point calculation, which waspart of the previous formula, would have a number of benefits, includingreducing the ability of teams to influence their ranking by avoidingfriendlies.