ZURICH, Dec 18: Argentina will end 2007 as the world’s best-ranked team, following the publication of the latest FIFA standings for December.

With few international matches being played in the past month, the rankings have seen little change since November with the top 20 sides all remaining fixed.

Argentina lost just three of their 16 matches played this year.

World champions Italy are third behind Brazil.

Rankings:

1 Argentina 1,523 points; 2 Brazil 1,502; 3 Italy 1,498; 4 Spain 1,349; 5 Germany 1,298; 6 Czech Republic 1,290; 7 France 1,243; 8 Portugal 1,241; 9 The Netherlands 1,170; 10 Croatia—Agencies