New FIFA Rankings Released

[Gregor]

http://www.fifa.com/en/mens/statistics/index/0,2548,All-Jul-2006,00.html

1 Brazil
2 Italy
3 Argentina
4 France
5 England
6 Netherlands
7 Spain
8 Portugal
9 Germany
10 Czech Republic
11 Nigeria
12 Cameroon
13 Switzerland
14 Uruguay
15 Ukraine
16 USA
17 Denmark
18 Mexico
19 Paraguay
20 Côte d'Ivoire

Scotland 41st, yay

 

[*J*]

FIFA rankings are usually messed up last month USA was 4th I think their not a bad team just not good enough for 4th in the world they play lots more games than european countries though so i think thats why. Only thing I may disagree with is Nigeria 11th and Cameroon 12th :|

 

[Gregor]

J, this is the new ranking system FIFA are using

 

[Lee]

They look a lot better than the last rankings.

Have they incorporated the new way of doing the rankings or is it just by chance USA and Mexico have dropped dramatically? *edit* nevermind

 

[Sean]

Yeh they are using the new system now. One of the major changes is that they did something about goal difference (either lowered the relevance or scrapped it) so that USA etc... who play God awful countries don't get extra points for banging 10 goals past a country that we havn't even heard of.

5th isn't bad I suppose

Hmmm just found this quote, explains some of the changes....

The most important change to the calculation of the ranking is that it will no longer take into account the last eight years of results but only the last four. At the same time, all of the other factors previously taken into account (result, importance of match, strength of opponents, regional strength, number of matches considered) were tested, analysed and, in some cases, totally revised. In fact, two of the factors that were previously used (goals scored and home advantage) will no longer have any impact on the ranking.

 

[ajw]

It seems better but is obviously still flawed;Nigeria and Cameroon 11th and 12th!!. Uruguay 14th! Meh seems better, although thought Italy might of taken over Brazil.

Also Wales are 58th,respectable for a country where sheep allegdly outnumber people.

 

[Sean]

Cameroon etc... did well in the African Nations so that will probably be why they are so high.

Uruguay did well in the Copa America (or whatever it's called) if I remember correctly as well and they only just missed out on the World Cup.

 

[Lee]

Yeh Uraguay were the team who played Australia for the place in the World Cup and only lost it on penalties.

 

[Kris]

Woo It's looking good i say thats a fair ranking for us, No longer stuck behind the **** teams who play even ******* teams. Our rank will improve now Vogts is away, It's his fault we are so low down.

 

[livin_dragon]

We should of beaten Uruguay before penalties lol Australia at 33 is okay i thought we were goin to be inside top 30 for sure but 33 is alrite i suppose. Its funny that Australia is now the highest ranked asian team with Japan falling to 40something and South Korea outside 50 i think.

 

[Lloyd]

Looking good to me, I think Germany should be a bit higher though.

 

[Gregor]

I dont, they had a gd wc but have only played friendlies for 2 years, and they got skint in most of them

 

[Morris]

Good to see England are high up in the ranking and surly has nothing to do with there w/c but atleast our good qualifying record counts for something in the end.

 

[Aphrika]

It's hard to accept African teams up there because generally not many follow the african competitions, but they do play well and beat european and south american teams on a regular basis. So the next 4 years will sort out this new ranking system and because it's only counted for 4 years worth of games, it will be quite up to date. Glad to see the amount of goals being taken away. Australia beat Solomon Islands 23-0 or something like that, in the old system that should have put us in with USA, but it's all different now, No goal count, and Aussies are in Asia, which looks like we will dominate in our very first year, bring on the FIFA rankings.

 

[southy354]

The rankings do look better and I think Australia at 33rd is fair placing. I would of thought that Brazil would drop a place but they havn't.

 

[Gregor]

nah Brazil dont deserve to drop a place just for one bad tournament and they only lost once as well

 

[Trav]

nah Brazil dont deserve to drop a place just for one bad tournament and they only lost once as well

i suppose, but they didnt really live up to themselves, and i thought other teams deserved to be higher placed. but none the less, all good

 

[Lee]

But the rankings aren't based on performances, they're based on results.

 

[Robbo]

How come are Australia in Asia now? Does that mean Oceania is going to become irrelavant or that New Zealand will now be playing playoffs to get into World Cup. Seems a better system as USA and Mexico were never top 10 world teams, it will make interesting reading in four years time.

 

[Gregor]

Aus are in Asia now as it gives them a better chance to Qual for the WC