FIFA ranking: February 2021 final preview

Here is the final preview of the February 2021 ranking. FIFA will publish this ranking next week's Thursday February 18th.

The first final tournament since the CECAFA Cup in December 2019 was played this month in Cameroon, where Morocco won (again) the African Nations Championship. Although a title was at stake, the I-factor for the matches played in this tournament was only 5, so only few points were exchanged.

Furthermore, as usual in January, a handfull of friendlies were played. It remains to be seen which of these fiendlies will be included in the ranking as some teams (f.i. Serbia) played with obvious B-teams.

FIFA ranking February 2021: preview results

Here are the scheduled matches counting for the FIFA February 2021 ranking with FIFA's Home Team Win Expectancy (We) in % and the points exchanged in case of Win, Draw or Loss of the home team. In cases where matches can go to PSO, also the points exchanged when the home team wins (PSO-W) of loses (PSO-L) the penalty shoot-out are given.

The 1 or 0 before each match indicates if the match is included (1) or not (0) according to my inclusion-method.

FIFA ranking February 2021: preview

Here are the minimum and maximum points for each team in the February 2021 ranking. FIFA will publish the ranking on February 18th.

Minimum and maximum points per team are determined with a small piece of software which calculates per match the minimum and maximum possible points for each participating team, given the minimum and maximum starting values of both teams before the match.

Note that only scheduled (and included) matches with both teams known at calculation time are incorporated in this analysis. 

FIFA ranking: February 2021 probable results

Here are the probable results of all currently scheduled matches up to and including February 14th, used to calculate the February 2021 probable ranking. The results are generated using elo ratings.

Also the already played matches since last December 7th, (probably) counting for the February ranking, are presented.

FIFA ranking: February 2021 probable ranking

As usual the February ranking does not include matches played in an official FIFA international match window. And this year only the African Nations Championship is scheduled from today in Cameroon. Not to be confused with the continental showpiece African Cup of Nations, for the 16 teams in this tournament only players playing in domestic African competitions can be selected. Especially the top dogs in African football with all their stars playing in other continents are severely weakened by this rule, so traditional powerhouses are not to be overestimated (if they could qualify for this tournament in the first place). The matches do count for the FIFA ranking though, but only as friendlies.

There are a few preparatory friendlies played for this tournament, but it is yet unclear if they will be included in the FIFA ranking or not. For now they are excluded.

UEFA qualification World Cup 2022 simulations (January 2021)

The European teams will have a busy schedule this year. The qualification groups for the World Cup 2022 in 10 MD's will start in March and be played to a finish in November. There are 10 groups with the group winners qualifying directly for Qatar. The 10 group runners-up will compete with the two best UNL group winners, not qualified already, in 3 play-off paths of 4 teams for the final 3 UEFA berths. These single leg semi-final and final play-offs will be played in March 2022.

In October the UEFA Nations League 2021 Final Four will be played between the league A group winners Italy, Belgium, France and Spain.

And not to forget: this June the postponed EURO 2020 will be played, still with the same match schedule and in the same 12 venues, spread across Europe. Last November the last four participants (Hungary, Slovakia, Scotland and North Macedonia) came through the qualification finals.

AFC qualification World Cup 2022 simulations (January 2021)

Only a single match was played in the Asian qualification for the World Cup last year. The last four match days of the second round are rescheduled now for the coming March and June windows. After the Summer round three, consisting of 2 groups of 6 teams, will commence. The 12 qualified teams will be put in 6 pots of two. Which FIFA ranking (June or July) is used for seeding is yet unknown, because the publication schedule for 2021 is not yet published.

The AFC managed to keep the same qualification format. The matches for round three are now scheduled from September until March 2022. And the next step -where the Asian number 5 is determined between the two group numbers 3- is scheduled in June 2022 as a single match now. In that same June window the interconfederational play-offs (with the Asian number 5) are staged.