Tonga, Cayman Islands and Guyana now trail in Bermuda's wake in the latest rankings to be released by soccer's governing body FIFA.

Bermuda have risen to the heady heights of 180th in the world, just below Mongolia and Cambodia, without actually winning a game. The only internationals played by the Bermudians were the two defeats in the Dudley Eve Memorial Trophy series against the visiting Bajans.

The Island now finds itself sandwiched between British Virgin Islands (176) and the Cayman Islands (182) in the CONCACAF region. Bermuda's highest ranking in the last decade came in 1993 when the Island reached 76th.

World Cup qualifying opponents Montserrat, who visit the Island on February 18 before Bermuda travel south for the return leg on March 31, retain their status as officially the worst footballing nation on the planet in 204th place.

El Salvador, who lie in wait should Kenny Thompson's men overcome their British Overseas Territory opponents, are in 96th place, a drop of one ? they now lie between Turkmenistan and Cyprus.

Barbados, rose 13 places in the rankings to 111th following their victories at the National Stadium and impressive results against Finland and Martinique ? overtaking such nations as Malaysia, Northern Ireland and North Korea.

Although 52 matches were taken into account by the sport's world governing body, there was little change in the upper echelons of world soccer with Brazil still leading the way over France, Spain, the Netherlands and Argentina.

England remain in eighth place with the US in 11th and Iraq unchanged in 43rd place despite the ongoing war.

FIFA's standings are based on a statistical analysis of countries' results over eight years, weighted according to how recently the matches were played, the strength of the opponents and the importance of each match.