Netherlands is new No. 1 in soccer

The Netherlands climbed to the No. 1 spot in the FIFA men's world rankings, taking over from Spain, which had been on top for more than a year. It is the first time the Dutch have been ranked No. 1 in the world. They are only the seventh team -- joining Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy and Spain -- to reach the top of the rankings. The Netherlands, despite not playing a match since a 4-3 win over Uruguay and a 0-0 draw versus Brazil in early June, showed a gain of 54 rankings points for the August ranking update. That combined with Spain's 2-1 loss to Italy two weeks ago to allow the Netherlands to take over the No. 1 spot. The Dutch have 1,596 rankings points with Spain, which had been No. 1 since winning the 2010 World Cup, second with 1,563 points. Germany (1,330) remains third. England moves up two places to No. 4 with 1,177 points, just ahead of fifth-ranked Uruguay (1,174). Still, Uruguay is the highest-ranked team in the Western Hemisphere -- another rankings first -- as Brazil (1,156) slips two places to sixth. Italy (1,110) is up one place to seventh, switching places with Portugal (1,060). Argentina (1,017) moves up to ninth, with Croatia (1,009) down one to 10th. The FIFA world rankings are determined by points awarded from match results in a three-year period, with more recent games given greater weight. Teams get additional points for playing relatively strong opponents. The next FIFA men's rankings are to be released Sept. 21.