Lionel Scaloni's side, which captured Argentina's third world title with a thrilling final win against France in Qatar last year, won friendlies against Panama and Curacao in the March international break.

Captain Lionel Messi brought up two milestones in those fixtures, netting his 800th career goal in a 2-0 victory over Panama before reaching 100 international goals as he scored a hat-trick in a 7-0 rout of Curacao.

Argentina last topped the rankings in 2017, but the Albiceleste dropped as low as 12th the next year after an underwhelming campaign at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

Argentina replaces rival Brazil at the summit after the Selecao suffered a surprise friendly loss to FIFA World Cup semi-finalist Morocco in March, a result which sees it drop to third.

France is second in the rankings after its UEFA Euro 2024 qualification wins over Netherlands and Republic of Ireland, while the rest of the top 10 remains unchanged.