Canada is set to move up in FIFA’s men’s world rankings after finishing fourth in this year’s Copa America tournament.
After a Cinderella run to the semi-finals, Canada was knocked out of the running by Lionel Messi and Argentina in a hard-fought match. In the third-place game, Canada came agonizingly close to getting on the podium but fell to Uruguay in penalties.
It was the country’s best-ever showing at Copa America, and while FIFA hasn’t officially updated their rankings, they are projected to jump eight spots in the world ranking.
🥇FIFA RANKING
🗓️JULYAsí quedaría el RANKING FIFA tras las Competiciones Oficiales Internacionales, Copa América y Eliminatorias Mundialistas del Verano en Selecciones
Estas son las Posiciones en CONCACAF
🇺🇸16 🇲🇽17 🇵🇦35
🇨🇦40 🇨🇷49 🇯🇲59🖊️@_cambiodejuego pic.twitter.com/uMztiAOFMZ
— CONCACAF Zone (@TodoConcacaf) July 15, 2024
Canada entered Copa America ranked as the 48th-best soccer nation in the world. The team’s fourth-place finish in the tournament will catapult them up eight spots on the FIFA rankings all the way up to 40th.
This will bring Canada ahead of five other countries that participated in the last World Cup, including Tunisia (41), Costa Rica (49), Cameroon (51), Saudi Arabia (56), and Ghana (64). It’ll also place them ahead of South American countries like Peru (42) and Chile (43), as well as Slovakia (43), Romania (45), Czechia (47), Scotland (48), and Norway (50) in Europe.
This will be the first time that Canada has cracked the top 40 since March 2022, when they were up to 38th. Canada was just seven spots shy of the national men’s record when they reached 33rd in the world in February 2022.
There is still a long way to go if they want to lay claim as the highest-ranked North American country on FIFA’s list, as all of Panama (35), Mexico (17), and the United States (16) are ahead of Canada.
As for the next few big international tournaments coming up for Canada, the CONCACAF Gold Cup is set for 2025 and the 2026 FIFA World Cup men’s tournament coming to North America in 2026.