MOSCOW, December 23. / TASS /. The Russian national football team finished this year in 34th place in the FIFA world rankings, according to the list released by the world football’s governing body on Thursday.

The Russian team holds 34th place with 1,493.42 points. Russia, led by head coach Valery Karpin, have not played a game since the previous edition of the international rankings last month.

The Russian national team finished the qualifying group stage for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar in 2nd place in Group H with 22 points after 10 matches, which saw the Russian team advance to the qualifiers, where they have another chance to qualify for the world’s biggest soccer tournament.

In order to qualify for next year’s championship in Qatar, Russia must beat two of their playoff opponents. The Russian football team will play against Poland in the semi-finals of the 2022 FIFA World Cup European qualifiers at the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow. The game will take place on March 24, starting at 8:00 p.m. Moscow time.

Belgium continued to lead the updated ranking of international football teams with 1,828.45 points. The Belgian team is followed by Brazil (1,826.35 points) in 2nd place and France, the reigning world champion with 1,786.15 points in 3rd place.

“Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, only 352 full-fledged international matches were played in 2020,” the FIFA statement read. “This had not been the case since 1987 (323 games) so few games had been played in a calendar year. In contrast, the football world made up for lost time in 2021 with a record 1,116 games play.”

“And while the number of matches has changed dramatically from year to year, the top ranked team in the world has remained the same! according to the statement. “For the fourth year in a row, Belgium (1st) ends the calendar year in pole position, although just ahead of Brazil (2nd) by 2.1 points. France (3rd) completes the podium for 2021.”

The remainder of the Top 10 after the current podiums of Belgium, Brazil and France are: 4th for England (1755.52 points); 5th Argentina (1750.51 points); 6th Italy (1,740.77); 7th Spain (1,704.75); 8th Portugal (1660.25); 9th Denmark (1654.54) and 10th Netherlands (1653.73).

The next edition of the FIFA World Ranking is scheduled for release on February 10, 2022.