Friday, December 11, 2009

FIFA Ranking: December 2009 final preview

Point totals for teams from the top 20 of the October 2007 ranking should be 100% correct. For the others, there's the issue of historical rankings published before July 2006.

Included: matches up to and including December 10th, 2009 - the official deadline for matches. However, FIFA could include more matches, but no later than December 13th.

Best movers:

24 - Nepal
17 - Jordan
16 - Bangladesh

Worst movers:

-35 - Grenada
-23 - Cuba
-14 - Barbados

Best movers in the top 50:

5 - Egypt
3 - Ghana
2 - Chile, Ukraine, Algeria and Slovenia

Worst movers in the top 50:

-4 - Romania
-3 - Bulgaria
-2 - Mexico, Czech Republic, Denmark and Ecuador

Iran drop out of the AFC top 5, replaced by Saudi Arabia.
Egypt overtake Algeria for 4th in Africa and 1st in the Arab world. Some consolation...

Two teams will improve their best ever ranking:

Algeria (26th - 28th in November 2009)
Comoros (176th - 178th in November 2009)

Two teams will return to their worst ever ranking:

Romania (36th - first achieved in October 2009)
Guinea-Bissau (193rd - first achieved in February 2007)

Two teams will have their worst ever ranking:

Liberia (161st - 160th in October 2009)
Dominican Republic (190th - 188th in September 2006)

December 2009 rank - Team - December 2009 points - +/- Ranking - +/- Points

1 Spain 1627 0 5
2 Brazil 1568 0 -24
3 Netherlands 1288 0 9
4 Italy 1209 0 -6
5 Portugal 1176 0 -5
6 Germany 1173 0 3
7 France 1117 0 -5
8 Argentina 1085 0 0
9 England 1076 0 13
10 Croatia 1042 0 -8
11 Cameroon 1035 0 0
12 Russia 1026 1 7
13 Greece 1016 -1 -12
14 USA 980 0 0
15 Chile 936 2 10
16 Côte d'Ivoire 934 0 7
17 Mexico 931 -2 0
18 Switzerland 924 0 0
19 Serbia 916 1 16
20 Uruguay 909 -1 8
21 Australia 863 0 0
22 Nigeria 848 0 0
22 Ukraine 848 2 6
24 Egypt 833 5 13
25 Czech Republic 828 -2 -15
26 Algeria 823 2 0
26 Israel 823 -1 -14
28 Denmark 820 -2 -15
29 Paraguay 806 1 -10
30 Bulgaria 801 -3 -26
31 Slovenia 767 2 11
32 Norway 760 -1 -20
33 Slovakia 751 1 -4
34 Ghana 747 3 8
35 Republic of Ireland 746 1 0
36 Romania 745 -4 -18
37 Ecuador 738 -2 -12
37 Honduras 738 1 0
39 Colombia 736 1 0
40 Northern Ireland 730 -1 -7
41 Turkey 728 0 -1
42 Sweden 721 0 -6
43 Japan 709 0 0
44 Costa Rica 701 0 7
45 Latvia 677 0 7
46 Scotland 665 0 0
47 Mali 662 0 0
48 Gabon 660 0 0
49 Burkina Faso 650 0 0
50 Venezuela 646 0 0
51 Bosnia-Herzegovina 642 0 -1
52 Korea Republic 625 0 0
53 Tunisia 614 0 1
54 Hungary 613 1 10
55 Finland 592 -1 -13
56 Bolivia 573 1 0
56 Canada 573 1 0
58 Poland 556 -2 -19
59 Benin 532 0 -2
60 Bahrain 524 1 0
61 Austria 523 1 3
62 Lithuania 521 -2 -4
63 Saudi Arabia 509 2 8
64 Iran 507 -1 -11
65 FYR Macedonia 495 1 4
66 Belgium 492 -2 -12
67 Morocco 477 0 1
68 Cyprus 471 0 -1
68 Peru 471 2 4
70 Panama 469 -1 1
71 Togo 467 -1 0
72 Mozambique 462 0 0
73 Guinea 459 2 9
74 Montenegro 456 -1 0
75 Uganda 455 3 27
76 Uzbekistan 440 0 3
77 Wales 420 2 -7
78 El Salvador 412 4 5
79 Oman 410 4 7
80 Belarus 406 0 -20
81 Jamaica 404 -7 -47
82 New Zealand 400 -5 -33
82 Trinidad and Tobago 400 -1 -21
84 Zambia 380 6 22
85 Korea DPR 377 -1 -22
85 South Africa 377 1 0
87 Qatar 376 0 2
88 Iraq 364 0 0
89 Senegal 361 0 -1
90 Haiti 349 -5 -35
91 Iceland 346 1 0
91 Syria 346 0 -2
93 China PR 340 4 12
94 Moldova 338 -1 0
95 Angola 337 -1 0
96 Albania 336 2 9
97 Cape Verde Islands 331 4 15
98 Kenya 327 7 35
99 Malawi 326 -5 -11
100 Armenia 321 -1 -2
101 Congo 320 -1 0
102 Estonia 308 0 5
102 Rwanda 308 8 53
104 Kuwait 301 -1 3
105 Thailand 296 2 7
106 Tanzania 289 0 -2
107 Congo DR 271 2 10
108 Sudan 268 3 21
109 Zimbabwe 265 -1 0
110 Singapore 260 1 13
111 Jordan 256 17 71
112 United Arab Emirates 248 -1 1
113 Namibia 246 1 0
114 Azerbaijan 237 2 0
115 Libya 232 3 4
116 Gambia 224 6 6
117 Faroe Islands 222 3 2
118 Botswana 219 3 0
119 Cuba 218 -23 -113
120 Indonesia 206 7 8
121 Ethiopia 205 10 23
121 Guatemala 205 4 2
123 Vietnam 203 7 19
124 Georgia 202 1 -1
125 Kazakhstan 200 -6 -26
126 Burundi 195 -2 -19
127 Guyana 191 -10 -41
128 Luxembourg 185 0 0
129 Barbados 181 -14 -57
130 Antigua and Barbuda 176 -7 -40
130 Yemen 176 2 -1
132 Fiji 167 1 -7
133 Nicaragua 165 1 0
134 India 158 1 -5
135 Equatorial Guinea 152 0 -11
135 Swaziland 152 3 0
137 Sierra Leone 145 4 8
138 Grenada 144 -35 -154
139 Myanmar 142 -4 -21
140 Turkmenistan 139 0 0
141 Bermuda 138 3 5
141 Maldives 138 5 6
143 Hong Kong 137 -2 0
144 Suriname 133 0 0
145 Chad 130 2 0
146 Malta 128 3 0
147 Lebanon 126 0 -4
147 New Caledonia 126 -8 -21
149 Bangladesh 122 16 39
150 Sri Lanka 121 4 13
151 Lesotho 120 -1 0
152 Nepal 112 24 59
152 St. Vincent and the Grenadines 112 -9 -24
154 Liechtenstein 110 -2 0
155 Vanuatu 108 2 7
156 St. Kitts and Nevis 107 3 13
157 Pakistan 106 4 18
158 Madagascar 105 -3 0
159 Kyrgyzstan 103 -3 0
160 Malaysia 102 -8 -8
161 Liberia 98 -3 0
162 Chinese Taipei 93 -2 0
163 Eritrea 92 -12 -23
163 Niger 92 1 6
165 Puerto Rico 87 -3 0
166 Tajikistan 86 -4 -1
167 Philippines 83 -2 0
168 Netherlands Antilles 80 0 0
169 Mauritania 70 0 0
170 Somalia 64 -3 -18
171 Mongolia 61 -1 0
172 Solomon Islands 60 -1 0
173 Belize 57 0 0
173 Palestine 57 2 3
175 Cambodia 56 -3 -3
176 Comoros 46 2 0
177 Turks and Caicos Islands 45 2 0
178 Laos 44 -4 -11
178 Seychelles 44 2 0
180 Bahamas 42 -3 -5
181 Mauritius 40 1 0
182 Samoa 38 1 0
183 Cayman Islands 36 1 0
184 Cook Islands 34 1 0
184 Guam 34 1 0
186 St. Lucia 32 2 0
187 Macau 31 2 0
188 Tonga 28 3 0
189 Djibouti 27 -4 -7
190 Dominican Republic 26 -9 -15
191 British Virgin Islands 25 1 0
191 Brunei Darussalam 25 1 0
193 Guinea-Bissau 20 -3 -9
194 Afghanistan 19 -2 -6
194 Tahiti 19 1 0
196 Bhutan 17 0 0
197 Dominica 12 0 0
198 Aruba 11 0 0
199 US Virgin Islands 8 0 0
200 Central African Republic 4 0 0
200 Timor-Leste 4 0 0
202 Andorra 3 0 0
203 American Samoa 0 0 0
203 Anguilla 0 0 0
203 Montserrat 0 0 0
203 Papua New Guinea 0 0 0
203 San Marino 0 0 0

About me:

Christian, husband, father x 3, programmer, Romanian. Started the blog in March 2007. Quit in April 2018. You can find me on LinkedIn.

9 comments:

  1. What has happened to Romania?! Since their dominant Euro 2008 qualifying, they are free fallen...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Am I right to assume that when the deadline is a certain date - like 10th December - then the 12/24/36/48 months used for the calculations all run from 11 December until 10 December the following year?

    If that is the case, then what happens if FIFA decide to include matches up till the 13th - do all the yearly dates move forward three days?

    What about a team not playing 5 matches - does that go by the 12 month period, or a calendar year?

    ReplyDelete
  3. @Sancho

    No special players to replace Mutu and Chivu - our youth teams are quite weak, club owners would rather buy cheap foreigners etc...

    @Anonymous

    No, the deadline only affects the number of matches included - the 12/24/36/48 are based on the release date (Dec 16th).

    12 month period.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks, Edgar.

    I have a couple of follow-up questions:
    Do you know the reasoning behind using the release date?
    If the 5 match minimum is for a 12 month period, and not the calendar year, why did you recently post only now in December about countries in danger of not playing 5 matches?

    ReplyDelete
  5. 1. I think that in an ideal world, FIFA would use the release date as the deadline for matches. However, they must make sure the match reports arrive in time etc etc. I don't know the reasoning behind it, but that's how it's done.
    2. There was also posts in August and November.

    FIFA Ranking: Teams in need of matches for the August 2009 ranking

    FIFA Ranking: Teams in need of matches for the November 2009 ranking

    ReplyDelete
  6. Sorry, my mistake, must have missed/forgotten about those posts. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wow! my favorite team still on Top, i hope they are going to win the fifa cup 2010.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hello edgar, thank you for the work you do.
    I would like to know how a team does not play a matches can still earn points ?
    Eg : egypt this month...

    ReplyDelete
  9. Are you Algerian by any chance? :)

    Egypt's total changed because they have played matches between Nov 18 and Dec 16 in the last 4 years (2005 - 2009) - in 2007 to be more exact.

    21 Nov 2007 Egypt - Libya 0 - 0 (Friendly)
    25 Nov 2007 Egypt - Saudi Arabia 2 - 1 (Friendly)

    As you know, there are 4 time frames. For Egypt, the first and the last remain unchanged.

    In November, these were the values for the second and third time frame:

    2nd time frame

    2253.975 points from 8 matches = 281.746875, multiplied by 0.3 = 84.5240625

    3rd time frame

    10183 points from 20 matches = 509.15, multiplied by 0.5 = 254.575

    With those two matches (against Libya and Saudi Arabia) dropping from the 3rd to the 2nd time frame, the totals and averages change as follows:

    2nd time frame

    2700.225 points from 10 matches = 270.0225, multiplied by 0.3 = 81.00675

    3rd time frame

    9736.75 points from 18 matches = 540.9305556, multiplied by 0.5 = 270.4652778

    So Egypt gain (270.4652778 - 254.575) + (81.00675 - 84.5240625) = 12.3729653 points. Because of rounding, they gain in the end 13 points.

    ReplyDelete