So the FIFA rankings are out today and we've fallen again; one place to 60th in the world. We now find ourselves 16 places behind Wales and 25 behind Scotland. However, aside from our near neighbours there are of course a litany of weird and wonderful teams ranked ahead of us also.
Considering they're supposedly better than us, we decided to explore some of the countries who've left us in their wake and find out a bit more about them. Here are three of the lesser known teams that are above us.
Cape Verde Islands - ranked 42nd
The Islands are better known in the footballing world for their long lost sons rather than their actual football team. Henrik Larsson, Patrick Vieira, Gelson Fernandez and Nani are all amongst those who trace their roots to here.
The national side are enjoying a great period of success over the last while; reaching the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations earlier this year in their first appearance at the tournament, Then of course they had to go an spoil it all by getting thrown out of their World Cup qualifying campaign for fielding an ineligible player against Tunisia, in a match they won 2-0.
Burkina Faso - ranked 52nd
You might be fooled into thinking 'Burkina Faso? Who the hell are they?' but I can assure you they're better than Accrington Stanley – much much better.
They're fast becoming one of the strongest teams in Africa. After finishing runners-up in this year's Africa Cup of Nations, they're enjoying a successful World Cup qualifying campaign, beating Algeria 3-2 in the first leg of their play-off at the weekend. In the weeks prior to the match, two Algerian journalists were arrested for espionage by Burkino Faso police after they were caught taking photos of the football stadium.
Uzbekistan - 55th
Near neighbours of Kazakhstan and historically much superior at football. An inferior goal difference to South Korea in their World Cup qualifying group condemned them to a play-off match against Jordan in September. Unfortunately their dreams were ended when Jordan won 9-8 on penalties after a 1-1 draw and a floodlight failure.
Mildly interesting fact: they were once managed by Englishman Bob Houghton who – along with Roy Hodgson – was credited with revolutionising Swedish football in the 1990s.
