Top Five Biggest Risers in Men's FIFA World Rankings in 2023

The final update of 2023 was recently made to the men's FIFA World Rankings at the end of the year.

A thrilling calendar of international football full of enthralling tournaments, shock results, and unlikely performances drew to a close. 

Here are the five nations who impressed in 2023 by gaining the most places in the rankings since the previous year.

Teams in this list are ranked based on the differences between their world ranking from the end of 2022 to the end of 2023. In the event of a draw, teams are ranked using their points difference over the same time period.

5. Guinea-Bissau: +15 Places, +39.06 Points

The West African country are the biggest movers in their continent after winning four out of their seven matches last year- a huge improvement from winning only one of their previous five.

The highlight of Guinea-Bissau’s year was beating Nigeria, ranked a huge 83 places above them, in Africa Cup of Nations qualifying. They finished as group A runners-up, automatically qualifying for the 2023 finals.

The Djurtus started brightly in qualification for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, winning four points from their opening two matches, giving Bissau-Guineans hope of making their first World Cup finals.

4. Kazakhstan: +15 Places, +52.07 Points

Kazakhstan’s 2023 was defined by their epic comeback from two goals down to win 3-2 against a Denmark side ranked 81 places above them.

Askhat Tagybergen’s equaliser was voted by fans as the best goal of UEFA EURO 2024 qualifying, and was nominated for the FIFA Puskas Award for the best goal scored in 2023.

Despite winning six out of their ten group H matches, including underdog victories against Finland and Northern Ireland, The Hawks failed to automatically qualify for EURO 2024.

Instead, the Kazakhstanis will face Greece before a potential final against Georgia or Luxembourg to qualify via the play-offs.

3. Malaysia: +15 Places, +56.27 Points

Malaysia progressed further up the rankings than any other Asian nation in 2023 after winning nine games from 13.

The highlight of these was a thrilling victory over Kyrgyzstan, ranked 40 places above Malaysia at the time, where they came back from two goals down to win 4-3.

Their year started partway through the 2022 AFF Championship, where they were knocked out at the semi-final stage by Thailand.

The Malayan Tigers closed off 2023 with joint qualification for both the 2026 FIFA World Cup and 2027 AFC Asian Cup where they won two matches to put themselves top of Group D.

2. Moldova: +19 Places, +63.72 Points

Despite losing more games than they won last year, Moldova’s impressive rise was characterised by unlikely results against higher-ranked sides in Euro 2024 qualifying.

Their biggest giant killing was against Poland, who ranked an enormous 148 places above them. Moldova came from being 2-0 down at half-time to seal an unlikely comeback in Chișinău.

Striker Ion Nicolaescu has been Tricolorii's standout performer this year. He became the top goal scorer in Moldovan national team history with a brace in the victory over Poland. He scored against them once again later in the year in a respectable 1-1 draw.

Moldova failed to qualify for Euro 2024 but managed a number of impressive results, notably drawing against Czechia and Albania who both qualified for the final tournament.

1. Panama: +20 Places, +83.92 Points 

Tournament success has been the main driver of Panama's sharp rise in the world rankings. Multiple appearances in the final stages of competitions have made Panama the 3rd best ranked North American nation, overtaking Canada and Costa Rica in the last year.

It was in the CONCACAF Gold Cup where Los Canaleros put up their best performances of 2023. They topped Group C without losing a match to progress to the quarter-finals, where they demolished guest team Qatar 4-0.

In Panama’s biggest result of last year, they defeated seven-time Gold Cup champions USA after a penalty shootout to progress to their first final in the competition since 2013.

Unfortunately for the Panamanians, they narrowly lost the final 1-0 to the record champions of the competition Mexico.

Central midfielder Adalberto Carrasquilla won the Golden Ball award for the best player in the tournament, becoming the first Panamanian player to do so since Luis Tejada in 2005.

 Panama finished 4th place in the 2022-23 Concacaf Nations League, and they are guaranteed to at least equal that feat in the 2023-24 edition of the tournament. They face Mexico in the semi-finals in March.