Big Movers of 2011
Japan moved to the top of the rankings after becoming world champions by defeating the USA on penalties in the World Cup final having already knocked hosts Germany out in extra time at the quarter-final stage.
Macedonia moved up in the rankings after hammering Luxembourg 5-1, beating Latvia 1-0 and drawing 1-1 with Greece in Euro qualifiers at home and winning a friendly 3-2 in Bulgaria.
Colombia may have finished bottom of their World Cup group, but they only lost by a single goal to Sweden and more significantly held North Korea to a goalless draw.
Ethiopia defeated DR Congo 3-0 and stunned Ghana 1-0 in Olympic qualifiers at home.
Tunisia celebrated a 3-0 victory in Morocco in an Olympic qualifier and only went out on penalties to South Africa.
Uzbekistan smashed India 5-1 in a play-off match in Bangladesh to reach the second round of the Olympic qualifiers where they shocked Vietnam 2-1 in Jordan.
India disappointed in all their matches and even lost 2-0 in a friendly away to Bahrain.
Faroe Islands finished bottom of the preliminary round of their Euro qualifiers losing 1-0 to Armenia and Georgia in Malta.
Angola were eliminated from the Olympic qualifiers on the away goals rule after a goalless draw in Namibia having drawn 2-2 at home.
Cuba continued to move down in the rankings after a 1-1 draw with Haiti in the Pre-Olympic Tournament hosted by Aruba.
The most surprising result was Armenia's 1-0 win against the Faroe Islands in a Euro qualifier followed by Northern Ireland's 3-1 triumph at home to Norway in another Euro qualifier while France's 4-0 thumping of Canada in the China World Cup also caught the eye.
The highest score of the year was Germany's 17-0 demolition of their visitors from Kazakhstan in a Euro qualifier
There were 4 new teams in the rankings with New Caledonia moving into 135th place followed by Aruba, UAE and finally Iraq who moved into the bottom of the rankings.
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