Zurich, Oct 2 (IANS): Argentina continued to lead the men's soccer world rankings in the FIFA world rankings, while Germany overtook Belgium to land at the second place.

Argentina still held on to lead but the gap has been narrowed to just 18 points when Germany overtook Belgium to land at the second place with 1,401 points, Xinhua news agency cited the rankings released on Thursday.

Other climbers in the top 10 include Portugal (4th, up two) and Spain (6th, up five), while Colombia (5th, down one) and Brazil (7th, down two) have lost ground.

Spain's re-entry after three months is down to two wins in UEFA EURO 2016 qualifiers, while Wales (8th, up one) and Austria (11th, up two) have achieved their highest-ever rankings, with the latter having already qualified for next year's tournament.

The biggest movers in the top 50 are Norway (34th, up 35) and Cape Verde Islands (41st, up 15).

Iran ranked 39th, maintaining the top place in Asia, followed by South Korea and Japan.