Zurich - Spain has built up a record lead atop the world football rankings, issued on Wednesday by the governing body FIFA, courtesy of its latest two victories.

The Euro 2008 champions defeated Turkey twice in World Cup qualifiers, 1-0 on March 28 and 2-1 on April 1, to stretch their unbeaten run to 31 games and lead the FIFA list with 1,729 points.

FIFA said that the 367-point advantage over second-placed Germany (1,362) is the biggest lead since the rankings which take into account national team games were introduced in 1993.

The Netherlands are close behind Germany on 1,360 points, with Brazil (1,275), Italy (1,271), Argentina (1,201), England (1,173), Croatia (1,151), Russia (1,117) and France
(1,074) completing the top 10.(dpa)