Skip to main content
Open this photo in gallery:

Canada's Jonathan Osorio, left, celebrates with Alphonso Davies after scoring his side's first goal against Mexico during a World Cup qualifying match, at Azteca stadium, in Mexico City, on Oct. 7.The Associated Press

After jumping 32 places to No. 40 in the FIFA rankings over the course of 2021, Canada has earned the title of this year’s “Most Improved Side.”

The Canadian men were rewarded for gaining 130.32 points in FIFA’s ranking system over the past 12 months, fuelled by success in World Cup qualifying and reaching the semi-finals of the Gold Cup.

In the December rankings released Thursday, Canada remains unchanged at No. 40, its highest-ever position. John Herdman’s team had climbed eight places in the November list.

The Canadian men also hit No. 40 in December 1996. FIFA, which starting the rankings in 1992, revamped its rating formula in 2018.

Canada started the year at No. 72 but has steadily risen thanks to a 13-2-4 record that has seen Herdman’s team sitting atop the table in the final round of World Cup qualifying for CONCACAF, which covers North and Central America and the Caribbean.

Canada’s lone losses were to the U.S. and Mexico at the Gold Cup. The Canadians have outscored their opposition 55-11 this year.

Canada was 94th, sandwiched between Gabon and the Faroe Islands, when Herdman took over as coach in January, 2018. Back then the Canadian men ranked 10th among CONCACAF countries in the FIFA rankings, looking up at Mexico, the U.S., Costa Rica, Jamaica, Panama, Haiti, Honduras, Curacao and Trinidad and Tobago.

Today Canada stands third in the region behind the U.S. (No. 11) and Mexico (No. 14).

With the schedule hit hard by the pandemic in 2020 – only 352 full internationals were played, the fewest since 1987 (323 matches) – the football world had a lot to catch up on. FIFA says a record 1,116 matches were played this year.

The top 10 is unchanged, Belgium finishes at No. 1 for the fourth year in a row, ahead of Brazil by just 2.1 points. France is third, followed by England, Argentina, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Denmark and the Netherlands.

Arab Cup winner Algeria moved up three places to No. 29 in the new rankings.

There were 58 matches played since the November list came out. Canada was inactive over the month, but returns to action in the January-February international window with World Cup qualifiers against Honduras, the U.S. and El Salvador.

European champion Italy (plus-115.77 points), Copa America winner Argentina (plus-108.51 points) and the Gold Cup champion Americans (plus-103.51 points) also saw their points total jump over the year.

Equatorial Guinea (No. 114, plus-59.78 points) made the most impressive progress among African teams in 2021, while Saudi Arabia (No. 51, plus-81.71 points) led the way in Asia.

In February, 2002, Canada jumped 20 places to No. 73 in the rankings, courtesy of a third-place finish at the Gold Cup. At the time, it marked Canada’s biggest climb up the world soccer ladder since winning the 2000 Gold Cup, when it rose 24 spots to 61st over all.

In June, 2007, Canada climbed 38 places from No. 94 to No. 56 as it progressed to the Gold Cup semi-finals. It reached No. 52 the following month.

Canada’s lowest-ever ranking was 122nd, in both August and October, 2014.

The Canadian women, gold medalists at the recent Tokyo Olympics, are ranked sixth by FIFA.

Follow related authors and topics

Authors and topics you follow will be added to your personal news feed in Following.

Interact with The Globe