In 2011 Wales were ranked 117th in the world, and could only dream of qualifying for a major tournament.
Five years later and Chris Coleman’s side are preparing for a European Championship semi-final against Portugal, and are set to see their world ranking skyrocket.
The country secured wins over Slovakia and Russia in the group stages of Euro 2016, suffered a narrow loss to England, and beat Northern Ireland and Belgium in the knockout stages.
That 3-1 win over the highly ranked Belgium on Friday night means that, in the next edition of world rankings released in July, Wales will rise to a record high of sixth place.
FIFA Ranking TOP-10 right now:
01 Argentina
02 #BEL
03 #GER
04 Colombia
05 Chile
06 #WAL (!!!!)
07 #ITA
08 #ESP
09 Brazil
10 #POR— MisterChip (English) (@MisterChiping) July 2, 2016
Wales’ previous high was eight in October 2015, and they were ranked 26th going into the tournament.
Wales will match the Republic of Ireland’s highest ever ranking, achieved in August 1993, while England won’t break be breaking back into the top ten after their defeat to Iceland.
