Latest updates

Check the Important info page for latest updates! (15 February 2024)

Friday, April 27, 2012

World Cup host to be chosen by FIFA Congress

If the changes to the FIFA statutes are approved by the Congress (Budapest, 24-25 May).

Congress agenda on FIFA.com.

Some interesting changes (membership process, limits to duration of mandates, changes in the EXCO, disciplinary measures):

1. The Executive Committee shall decide the venue for the final competitions organised by FIFA, with the sole exception of the venue for the final competition of the FIFA World Cup™, which shall be decided by the Congress in accordance with art. 81 par.2.
2. The decision on the venue for the final competition of the FIFA World Cup™ aims to achieve the objective of securing the best possible hosting conditions in the host Country and shall follow the procedure below:

a) Based on specific regulations to be issued by the Executive Committee, the FIFA administration shall establish a fair and transparent bidding procedure, inviting all qualified Members to submit a bid and defining in detail the requirements for the bidding and hosting as well as criteria for selecting the host of the event.
b) Based on its best judgement, the FIFA administration shall submit to the Executive Committee a public report evaluating the compliance of all bids with the bidding procedure and the requirements for hosting the event, taking into consideration the defined criteria for selecting the host.
c) The Executive Committee shall review the report and designate, based on its best judgement and in an open ballot, three bids to be submitted to Congress for a final decision. The result of each ballot shall be made public.
d) The Congress shall select by open ballot the host venue from the three bids designated by the Executive Committee. An absolute majority (50% + 1) of the Members present and eligible to vote is necessary in the first ballot. If an absolute majority is not reached in the first ballot, then the bid with the lowest number of votes in the first ballot is eliminated. In the second ballot, a simple majority (50%+1) of the valid votes cast is sufficient.
3. A Congress may not award the hosting rights to more than one FIFA World Cup™ at the same meeting.
4. The right to host the event shall not be awarded to members of the same Confederation for two consecutive editions of the FIFA World Cup™.


Independence: a candidate for the office of chairman or deputy chairman of the Audit and Compliance Committee, the Nomination Committee or either of the two chambers of the Ethics Committee shall not be considered independent if at any time during the four years preceding his term he or any family member (spouse, children, stepchildren, parents, siblings, domestic partner, parents of spouse/domestic partner and siblings and children of domestic partner):
• held any paid position or material contract (directly or indirectly) with FIFA and/or any Member, Confederation, League or Club (including any of their affiliated companies/organisations);
• was employed by FIFA’s outside legal counsel or by FIFA’s auditor (and was engaged in auditing FIFA
• held any paid or voluntary position with a non-profit organisation to which FIFA and/or any Member, Confederation, League or Club makes annual payments in excess of USD 100,000.

Membership is only permitted if an Association is currently a member of a Confederation.

The duration of the mandate of the President shall be limited to eight years (two terms of four years each).

The duration of the mandate of the Executive Committee members shall be limited to 12 years (three terms of four years each).

The EXCO will have one extra member - the Representative of Women's Football (a woman).

Match replay added as disciplinary measures for legal persons (clubs / national teams).

Social work added as disciplinary measures for natural persons.

Recourse to ordinary courts of law for all types of provisional measures is prohibited.

UEFA's EXCO allocation changes from two vice-presidents and five members (7 in total) to one vice-president and seven members (8 in total).
The British associations EXCO allocation is removed - they currently have one vice-president.

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.

Kuwait FA publish 2015 Asian Cup preliminary seeding

Three days ago the Kuwaiti FA published the seeding for the 2015 Asian Cup preliminary draw (scheduled to take place in mid-October).

The pots are the same as those I've published on 30 March, based on info received from AFC.

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.

FIFA Ranking: Teams in need of matches for the May 2012 ranking

There are 22 teams that will not have the required 5 matches in the last 12 months when the December 2009 FIFA Ranking will be released. For these teams, FIFA will basically add a number of "virtual defeats" equal to the difference between the number of matches actually played by that team in the last 12 months and the required 5 matches.

Only Cape Verde Islands will be in the top 100.

11 countries managed to get positive results in the last 12 months, but they lose points because of the 5 matches requirement.

New Zealand (68th in the Elo Ratings) are also on the list - three matches in the last 12 months - all defeats.

Country - Points lost - Probable May 2012 ranking


Bahamas 198 161
Cambodia 97 175
Mongolia 96 177
Aruba 77 167
Cape Verde Islands 59 76
Tonga 56 177
Yemen 27 156
Eritrea 26 190
Papua New Guinea 23 193
Laos 16 173
Benin 12 124
Guam 7 194
Anguilla 6 200
New Zealand 0 130
Kyrgyzstan 0 195
British Virgin Islands 0 199
Mauritania 0 201
Brunei Darussalam 0 201
Bhutan 0 201
Timor-Leste 0 204
Turks and Caicos Islands 0 205
Montserrat 0 205

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.

Futsal in the FIFA ranking and Canada's demographic explosion


Last Friday, FIFA published the statistical kits for the Olympic draw (men and women).

You will notice the dramatic demographic explosion taking place in Canada. Their population suddenly increased from 34,3 millions to 314 millions (see page 11). Of course, someone at FIFA just made a mistake when sorting the table.

On Wednesday, futsal matches appeared in the list of football fixtures and in the FIFA ranking prediction tool. This is fixed now, but here's a little screen shot.


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.

Friday, April 20, 2012

2006 FIFA World Cup preliminary draw: Errors in the European seeding?

Yes, 2006 and not 2014.

I had to find the seeding the last couple of qualifying draws in Europe (for both the EURO and the World Cup) for an article posted today.

The old UEFA national team coefficient was computed by simply dividing the total number of points in the last two qualifying competitions by the number of matches played.

There's something very strange in the 2006 FIFA world Cup preliminary seeding for the European zone (see pdf file from archive.org, since the original page now simply redirects to FIFA.com)

It says:

"The 51 countries will be classified on the basis of their results in the qualifying competitions for the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan and EURO 2004."

There's no info on tie breakers if two or more associations have equal coefficients.

Paragraph 6.03 of the EURO 2008 regulations (the last qualifying draw with the old coefficient):

"If two or more associations have the same coefficient, the following criteria will be applied:

a) coefficient from the matches played in its most recent qualifying competition,
b) average goal difference,
c) average number of goals scored,
d) average number of away goals scored,
e) drawing of lots."


Applying these criteria, four teams will be in different pots:

Bulgaria would have replaced Poland in the second pot.
Ukraine would have replaced Austria in the third pot.

Ukraine have no reason to complain. They won their group and were the first European team to clinch qualification.

Group 2: Turkey, Denmark, Greece, Ukraine, Georgia, Albania, Kazakhstan

Bulgaria finished 3rd in their group, 9 points of the pace set by Croatia and Sweden.

Group 8: Sweden, Croatia, Bulgaria, Iceland, Hungary, Malta.

Poland and Austria were in the same group. Poland finished 2nd and qualified for the final tournament. Austria were 3rd, 9 points behind Poland.

Group 6: England, Poland, Austria, Wales, Northern Ireland, Azerbaijan

This is how the groups would have looked like with the aforementioned criteria:

Group 2: Turkey, Denmark, Greece, Austria, Georgia, Albania, Kazakhstan
Group 6: England, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Wales, Northern Ireland, Azerbaijan
Group 8: Sweden, Croatia, Poland, Iceland, Hungary, Malta

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.

Mircea Lucescu criticises FIFA

Mircea Lucescu is really a great manager. In the last 20 years, only three managers outside of Western Europe have managed to win an European trophy. All three have won the UEFA Cup: Fatih Terim (2000 with Galatasaray), Valery Gazzaev (2005 with CSKA Moscow) and Lucescu (2009 with Shakhtar Donetsk).

He also won all sorts of league and cup titles in Romania, Italy (Serie B), Turkey and Ukraine.

He's not always right though.

Last Saturday, in an interview with Dolce Sport, he claimed the seedings have been introduced in order to have the strongest teams at the final tournaments and that before these seedings were introduced, the draws were open and anything could happen. He also said that because of the seeding, countries with a footballing tradition have the upper hand and thus it will be very difficult for Romania to qualify.

Probably long time ago there were open draws for the preliminaries, but in recent history, Europe has always used seeding and Romania were in the first pot 4 (yes, four!) times. Two of these times they failed to qualify...

1998 World Cup - FIFA Ranking (1st pot)

Qualified (1st place) from a group that had the Republic of Ireland, Lithuania, Macedonia, Iceland and Liechtenstein.

2000 EURO - UEFA NT Coefficient (1st pot)

Qualified (1st place) from a group that had Portugal, Slovakia, Hungary, Azerbaijan and Liechtenstein.

2002 World Cup - UEFA NT Coefficient (1st pot)

Didn't qualify. Finished second in a group that had Italy, Georgia, Hungary and Lithuania, then lost the play-off against Slovenia.

2004 EURO - UEFA NT Coefficient (1st pot)

Didn't qualify. Finished third in a group that had Denmark, Norway, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Luxembourg.

2006 World Cup - UEFA NT Coefficient (3rd pot)

Didn't qualify. Finished third in a group that had Netherlands, Czech Republic, Finland, Macedonia, Armenia and Andorra.

2008 EURO - UEFA NT Coefficient (2nd pot)

Qualified (1st place) from a group that had Netherlands, Bulgaria, Belarus, Albania, Slovenia and Luxembourg.

Before their final group match against Bulgaria, Romania were already qualified. Long before the match I wrote an article explaining the need to win against Bulgaria in order to be in the first po for the next preliminary draw. The article made its way to the Romanian FA, but Romania lost in Sofia. With a draw against Bulgaria and keeping the same draw order, Romania's opponents for the 2010 World Cup would have been: Norway, Switzerland, Moldova, Letonia and Luxembourg.

2010 World Cup - FIFA Ranking (2nd pot)

Finished fifth in a group that had Serbia, France, Austria, Lithuania and Faroe Islands.

2012 EURO - NEW UEFA NT Coefficient (2nd pot)

Finished third in a group that had France, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Belarus, Albania and Luxembourg.

2014 World Cup - FIFA Ranking (4th pot)


After their final game in the EURO 2012 preliminaries before the draw (a 3 - 0 against Bosnia-Herzegovina), Romania went to South America with a depleted squad and lost two friendlies against Brazil and Paraguay. I wrote FRF about the need to win against Paraguay in order to climb in the third pot. However, Romania would have displaced Hungary and its group (Netherlands, Turkey, Hungary, Estonia and Andorra) wouldn't have changed.

Romania had plenty of football tradition as Mircea Lucescu calls it, but lost it. And let's remember his son, Razvan Lucescu, was in charge of Romania between 2009 and 2011.

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.

April 2012: FIFA Ranking vs. Elo Ratings


Top 10 differences for countries with a better Elo Rating:

Team - FIFA Ranking - Elo Rating - Difference
 
Solomon Islands 184 120 64
Syria 126 64 62
New Zealand 130 68 62
Mauritania 202 157 45
Fiji 160 117 43
Vanuatu 172 130 42
Bulgaria 96 56 40
Cyprus 133 96 37
Moldova 142 106 36
New Caledonia 154 119 35

Top 10 differences for countries with a better FIFA Ranking:

Team - FIFA Ranking - Elo Rating - Difference


Sierra Leone 63 126 -63
São Tomé e Príncipe 116 170 -54
Algeria 38 87 -49
Luxembourg 119 163 -44
Libya 46 86 -40
St. Kitts and Nevis 111 150 -39
Samoa 155 192 -37
Vietnam 97 132 -35
Antigua and Barbuda 100 134 -34
Bermuda 108 142 -34

Top 50 nations only (in the top 50 in at least one of the rankings)

Top 10 differences for countries with a better Elo Rating:

Team - FIFA Ranking - Elo Rating - Difference
 
Poland 65 38 27
Egypt 55 32 23
Ukraine 49 27 22
Cameroon 64 44 20
Iran 51 33 18
Costa Rica 59 43 16
Nigeria 60 45 15
Ecuador 37 23 14
Korea Republic 31 21 10
Jamaica 56 46 10

Top 10 differences for countries with a better FIFA Ranking:

Team - FIFA Ranking - Elo Rating - Difference


Algeria 38 87 -49
Libya 46 86 -40
Armenia 47 80 -33
Gabon 42 72 -30
Slovakia 35 64 -29
Slovenia 28 53 -25
El Salvador 49 70 -21
Mali 39 58 -19
Ghana 22 37 -15
Bosnia-Herzegovina 27 41 -14

Matches I would have liked to see before the next ranking:

Poland - Slovakia
Egypt - Armenia
Ukraine - Slovenia
Cameroon - Algeria
Iran - Estonia
Costa Rica - Sierra Leone
Nigeria - Libya
Ecuador - Bosnia-Herzegovina
Korea Republic - Wales
Jamaica - Gabon


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.

Friday, April 13, 2012

FIFA Ranking: May 2012 probable ranking

Next update: 4 May 2012.

FIFA will publish the ranking on 9 May.

Only 6 matches left before the deadline.

Probable results computed using the Elo Ratings.  Here's the list of results:

Before posting comments like: "Hey my team actually beat the other team! It's a mistake!" please read the previous paragraph again and look when these results were posted (Yes, before the matches actually took place!) ;)

1 - First team wins
X - Draw
2 - Second team wins

15/Apr Egypt - Mauritania 1 (Friendly)
17/Apr United Arab Emirates - Iran 2 (Friendly)
17/Apr Egypt - Iraq 1 (Friendly)
25/Apr Guatemala - Paraguay 2 (Friendly)
28/Apr Malaysia - Sri Lanka 1 (Friendly)
02/May Iran - Mozambique 1 (Friendly)

Team - Minimum points - Maximum points


Paraguay 786 801
Egypt 539 578
Iran 534 568
Iraq 468 493
Guatemala 396 431
Mozambique 300 348
United Arab Emirates 270 298
Malaysia 141 153
Sri Lanka 74 95
Mauritania 4 79

For the other 198 teams the May points are already set.

Argentina will climb 1 spot to 9th, with Denmark dropping to 10th.

Probable May 2012 rank - Team - Probable May 2012 points - +/- Ranking - +/- Points


1 Spain 1442 0 0
2 Germany 1345 0 0
3 Uruguay 1309 0 0
4 Netherlands 1207 0 0
5 Portugal 1190 0 0
6 Brazil 1165 0 0
7 England 1132 0 0
8 Croatia 1114 0 0
9 Argentina 1076 1 10
10 Denmark 1069 -1 0
11 Russia 1049 0 0
12 Italy 1041 0 0
13 Chile 968 0 1
14 Greece 961 0 0
15 Côte d'Ivoire 951 0 0
16 France 938 0 0
17 Sweden 931 0 0
18 Republic of Ireland 891 0 0
18 Switzerland 891 0 0
20 Mexico 867 0 -1
21 Australia 862 0 0
22 Ghana 816 0 0
23 Colombia 812 0 -3
24 Norway 805 0 0
25 Paraguay 801 0 -2
26 Czech Republic 798 0 0
27 Bosnia-Herzegovina 792 0 0
28 Slovenia 781 0 0
29 USA 779 0 0
30 Japan 753 0 0
31 Korea Republic 746 0 0
32 Serbia 725 0 0
33 Turkey 720 0 0
34 Slovakia 716 1 0
35 Hungary 692 1 0
36 Peru 691 -2 -28
37 Ecuador 679 0 6
38 Algeria 667 0 0
39 Mali 656 0 0
40 Zambia 640 0 0
41 Wales 635 0 0
42 Gabon 621 0 0
43 Venezuela 613 0 -4
44 Belgium 604 0 0
45 Romania 603 0 0
46 Libya 602 0 0
47 Armenia 598 0 0
48 Scotland 596 0 0
49 El Salvador 591 0 2
50 Ukraine 589 -1 0
51 Egypt 578 4 12
52 Jamaica 576 4 11
53 Panama 575 -1 0
54 Estonia 574 -1 0
55 Montenegro 569 -1 0
56 Iran 568 -5 -10
57 Tunisia 563 0 0
58 Israel 558 0 0
59 Costa Rica 549 0 -8
60 Morocco 548 2 0
61 Sierra Leone 542 2 9
62 Honduras 540 -1 -10
63 Nigeria 537 -3 -17
64 Cameroon 526 0 0
65 Poland 514 0 0
66 China PR 508 0 5
67 South Africa 500 4 18
68 Guinea 499 -1 0
69 Belarus 494 -1 0
70 Uzbekistan 493 -1 0
71 Haiti 486 1 9
72 Austria 475 1 0
73 Iraq 468 -3 -20
74 Latvia 465 0 0
75 Canada 450 0 0
76 Cape Verde Islands 449 0 0
77 Senegal 448 0 0
78 Angola 440 0 0
79 Finland 430 0 0
80 Burkina Faso 426 0 0
81 Jordan 420 0 0
82 Trinidad and Tobago 419 1 2
83 Guatemala 396 -1 -23
84 Albania 384 0 0
84 Qatar 384 0 0
86 Korea DPR 376 0 -1
86 Kuwait 376 1 0
88 Togo 374 0 0
89 Lithuania 373 0 0
89 Saudi Arabia 373 0 0
91 Congo 366 0 0
92 Oman 363 1 2
93 Uganda 362 -1 0
94 Bahrain 361 -1 0
95 Georgia 360 0 0
96 Bulgaria 354 0 0
97 Vietnam 347 0 0
98 FYR Macedonia 342 0 0
99 Guyana 341 0 0
100 Antigua and Barbuda 338 0 0
100 Northern Ireland 338 0 0
102 Malawi 332 0 0
103 Equatorial Guinea 330 0 -1
104 Zimbabwe 328 0 0
105 Rwanda 327 0 0
106 Botswana 321 1 0
107 Bermuda 318 1 0
108 Bolivia 308 1 0
109 Azerbaijan 305 1 0
110 Mozambique 300 -4 -22
111 St. Kitts and Nevis 298 0 0
112 Liberia 296 0 3
113 Gambia 292 0 0
113 Sudan 292 0 0
115 Chad 289 0 0
116 Sao Tome e Principe 288 0 0
117 Kenya 285 0 0
118 Faroe Islands 284 0 0
119 Luxembourg 283 0 0
120 Namibia 281 1 0
121 Niger 274 2 0
122 Central African Republic 271 2 0
123 United Arab Emirates 270 -2 -11
124 Benin 269 1 0
124 Congo DR 269 -5 -14
126 Syria 268 0 0
127 Burundi 267 0 0
128 Liechtenstein 261 1 0
129 Lebanon 260 -1 -6
130 New Zealand 256 0 0
131 Iceland 255 0 0
131 Tajikistan 255 0 0
133 Cyprus 252 0 0
133 Suriname 252 0 0
135 Dominican Republic 247 0 0
136 Cuba 244 0 0
137 Kazakhstan 243 0 0
138 Ethiopia 236 0 0
138 Puerto Rico 236 0 0
140 Belize 235 0 0
141 Thailand 232 0 0
142 Moldova 222 0 0
143 Grenada 221 1 4
144 Turkmenistan 220 -2 -2
145 Tanzania 217 0 2
146 Nicaragua 211 0 0
147 St. Vincent and the Grenadines 191 0 0
148 Philippines 172 0 -10
149 Nepal 164 0 0
150 Malta 161 0 0
151 Indonesia 159 0 -1
152 Bangladesh 156 0 2
153 Malaysia 153 3 5
154 Palestine 151 -1 0
155 New Caledonia 150 -1 0
156 Samoa 149 -1 0
157 Yemen 148 -1 0
158 Singapore 145 0 0
159 Curacao 138 0 0
160 Fiji 133 0 0
161 Bahamas 132 0 0
161 Hong Kong 132 0 0
163 Lesotho 131 0 0
164 India 122 1 0
164 Maldives 122 0 -8
166 Madagascar 121 0 0
167 Aruba 120 0 0
168 Chinese Taipei 117 1 0
169 Guinea-Bissau 116 1 0
170 Afghanistan 115 -2 -3
171 Barbados 106 0 0
172 Vanuatu 103 0 0
173 Laos 96 2 0
174 Dominica 95 2 0
175 Cambodia 94 -2 -7
175 Myanmar 94 -2 -7
177 Mongolia 88 0 -2
177 Tonga 88 1 0
179 Swaziland 86 0 0
179 Tahiti 86 0 0
181 Pakistan 80 1 0
182 US Virgin Islands 78 1 0
183 Solomon Islands 75 1 0
184 Sri Lanka 74 -3 -8
185 Cayman Islands 72 0 0
186 American Samoa 61 0 0
187 Comoros 60 0 0
188 St. Lucia 52 0 0
189 Seychelles 47 0 0
190 Eritrea 45 0 0
191 Somalia 43 0 0
192 Mauritius 37 0 0
193 Papua New Guinea 34 0 0
194 Guam 32 0 0
195 Kyrgyzstan 29 0 0
196 Cook Islands 28 0 0
197 Djibouti 23 0 0
198 Macau 16 0 -3
199 British Virgin Islands 13 0 0
200 Anguilla 9 0 0
201 Bhutan 4 0 -2
201 Brunei Darussalam 4 1 0
201 Mauritania 4 1 0
204 Timor-Leste 2 0 0
205 Andorra 0 0 0
205 Montserrat 0 0 0
205 San Marino 0 0 0
205 Turks and Caicos Islands 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.

A look at the flag chasers

In February, Estonia announced they will be playing against France in a friendly scheduled for 5 June. They will thus become the first ever team to have played all 52 fellow European footballing nations (see article on fifa.com).

OK, so Estonia will be the first. Who was close? Are there any other teams that have achieved this feat in other confederations? Well, except CONMEBOL teams since they meet each other in every World Cup qualification campaign. Which team has the highest number of opponents?

In Europe, there are three teams with only 2 UEFA opponents missing from their list

Russia (Bosnia-Herzegovina and Montenegro)
Romania (Kazakhstan and Malta)
Czech Republic (Georgia and Kazakhstan)

Here's the European top 10, with 7 teams tied for 10th place.

Opponents left to play against - Team

1 - Estonia
2 - Russia, Romania, Czech Republic
3 - Israel, Norway, Poland, Hungary, Germany
4 - Malta, Greece, Portugal, Wales, Bulgaria, Finland, Sweden

Asian Top 10

4 - China PR, Korea Republic
5 - Hong Kong, Thailand
6 - Bangladesh, Korea DPR, Iran, Singapore
7 - Sri Lanka, India, Kuwait

African Top 10

7 - Angola, Cameroon, Zambia
8 - Guinea
9 - Zimbabwe
10 - Gabon, Congo DR, Uganda, Senegal, Ghana, Tunisia

CONCACAF Top 10

4 - St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Haiti
5 - Cuba
6 - Trinidad and Tobago
8 - Puerto Rico, Curacao, Jamaica
9 - Grenada, Barbados
10 - St. Lucia, Bermuda, Suriname

In Oceania, 5 teams have met all their OFC neighbors: Cook Islands, Tahiti, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Fiji.

American Samoa and Tonga have to play against New Zealand.
Papua New Guinea - against New Caledonia.
New Caledonia - against Samoa and Papua Guinea.
Samoa - against New Caledonia and New Zealand.
New Zealand - against Samoa, Tonga and American Samoa.


Most teams outside own confederation

Unsurprisingly, Brazil top the list with 73 non-CONMEBOL opponents.

Brazil 73
Saudi Arabia 70
USA 67
Mexico 66
Korea Republic 65
Chile 64
Japan 63
China PR 62
Egypt 62
Canada 61
Uruguay 61

Most opponents

Saudi Arabia are top - they have played against 106 FIFA members. Korea Republic have the same number of opponents, but 250 matches more than Saudi Arabia.


Saudi Arabia 106
Korea Republic 106
China PR 103
Egypt 103
Iran 99
Japan 98
Morocco 96
Tunisia 95
Sweden 87
Algeria 86
Norway 86

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.

2013 African Cup of Nations: Seeding, draw dates

CAF have announced yesterday the qualification criteria for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.

It the same seeding system I expect they will use for the final draw. There are some errors in their ranking. They say in case of a tie, the tie-breaker will be the number of points gained in the three tournaments (3 for a win, 1 for a draw, 0 for a defeat).

Gabon should be above Nigeria (both have 14 points on the field, but Gabon have a better goal difference).
Morocco should be above Senegal (6 points vs. 2 points on the field).
Libya should be above Benin (4 points vs. 1 point on the field).
Mozambique should be above Togo (1 point vs. 0 points on the field).
South Africa should be above Namibia (2 points vs. 1 point on the field).

Official CAF ranking (pdf document).

The draw for the final qualification round will take place in the first week of July 2012.

The draw for the final tournament will take place on 26 October 2012.

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.

Friday, April 6, 2012

FIFA Ranking: April 2012 final preview

FIFA will publish the ranking on April 11th.

Of the top 10 teams, only Spain don't move. Germany up to 2nd, Uruguay climb to 3rd, Netherlands drop to 4th. Italy out of the top 10, replaced by Denmark.

Best movers:

25 - Korea DPR
24 - Turkmenistan
14 - Tajikistan

Worst movers:

-21 - Georgia
-20 - Israel and Cuba
-14 - Cape Verde Islands

Best movers in the top 50:

9 - Libya and El Salvador
8 - Colombia and Romania
7 - Wales

Worst movers in the top 50:

-20 - Israel
-10 - Montenegro
-6 - Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Estonia

Japan return to 2nd in Asia, with Korea Republic dropping to third. Korea did peak at the right moment to be top seeded for the World Cup draw. China PR replace Uzbekistan in the Asian top 5.

Mali and Zambia switch places in the African top 5, with Mali climbing to 4th.

El Salvador climb to 3rd place in CONCACAF.

Colombia replace Paraguay in the CONMEBOL top 5.

New Caledonia up to 2nd in Oceania.

Germany up to 2nd and Portugal up to 4th in Europe, with Netherlands and England dropping one place each.

Four teams will improve their best ever ranking:

Uruguay (3rd - 4th in September 2011)
Libya (46th - 53rd in February 2012)
El Salvador (49th - 54th in February 2012)
Philippines (148th - 149th in December 2010) (Thanks FilipinoFootball!)

American Samoa will return to their best ever ranking - 186th, first achieved in December 2011.

Three teams will return to their worst ever rankings:

India (165th - first happened in March 2007)
British Virgin Islands (199th - first happened in December 2011)
Brunei Darussalam (202nd - first happened in December 2011)

Eight teams will drop to new lows:

Bulgaria (96th - 88th in February 2012)
Iceland (131st - 124th in August 2011)
Cyprus (133rd - 129th in March 2012)
Thailand (141st - 139th in March 2012)
Singapore (158th - 152nd in November 2011)
Barbados (171st - 170th in March 2012)
Solomon Islands (184th - 182nd in April 2011)
Kyrgyzstan (195th - 192nd in February 2012)

April 2012 rank - Team - April 2012 points - +/- Ranking - +/- Points


1 Spain 1442 0 -119
2 Germany 1345 1 13
3 Uruguay 1309 1 20
4 Netherlands 1207 -2 -172
5 Portugal 1190 2 84
6 Brazil 1165 -1 8
7 England 1132 -1 11
8 Croatia 1114 2 65
9 Denmark 1069 2 44
10 Argentina 1066 -2 -36
11 Russia 1049 1 46
12 Italy 1041 -3 -21
13 Chile 967 1 17
14 Greece 961 -1 8
15 Côte d'Ivoire 951 0 7
16 France 938 0 0
17 Sweden 931 0 5
18 Republic of Ireland 891 1 19
18 Switzerland 891 0 0
20 Mexico 868 2 19
21 Australia 862 -1 -6
22 Ghana 816 1 -4
23 Colombia 815 8 67
24 Norway 805 0 8
25 Paraguay 803 0 12
26 Czech Republic 798 3 36
27 Bosnia-Herzegovina 792 -6 -58
28 Slovenia 781 0 16
29 USA 779 -2 7
30 Japan 753 3 13
31 Korea Republic 746 -1 -5
32 Serbia 725 -6 -54
33 Turkey 720 -1 -27
34 Peru 719 0 -1
35 Slovakia 716 0 6
36 Hungary 692 1 34
37 Ecuador 673 2 25
38 Algeria 667 -3 -43
39 Mali 656 3 27
40 Zambia 640 1 10
41 Wales 635 7 55
42 Gabon 621 1 4
43 Venezuela 617 3 24
44 Belgium 604 -4 -38
45 Romania 603 8 30
46 Libya 602 9 36
47 Armenia 598 -3 -3
48 Scotland 596 3 22
49 El Salvador 589 9 35
49 Ukraine 589 0 11
51 Iran 578 0 4
52 Panama 575 -2 -1
53 Estonia 574 -6 -11
54 Montenegro 569 -10 -32
55 Egypt 566 9 36
56 Jamaica 565 -2 -6
57 Tunisia 563 -1 -1
58 Israel 558 -20 -93
59 Costa Rica 557 0 7
60 Nigeria 554 -3 -3
61 Honduras 550 2 17
62 Morocco 548 -1 3
63 Sierra Leone 533 10 68
64 Cameroon 526 2 21
65 Poland 514 10 53
66 China PR 503 2 8
67 Guinea 499 -2 -10
68 Belarus 494 1 4
69 Uzbekistan 493 -2 -9
70 Iraq 488 6 28
71 South Africa 482 -11 -67
72 Haiti 477 0 8
73 Austria 475 -2 3
74 Latvia 465 4 21
75 Canada 450 4 7
76 Cape Verde Islands 449 -14 -93
77 Senegal 448 -7 -34
78 Angola 440 3 16
79 Finland 430 5 18
80 Burkina Faso 426 -3 -25
81 Jordan 420 2 0
82 Guatemala 419 4 15
83 Trinidad and Tobago 417 -1 -6
84 Albania 384 -4 -48
84 Qatar 384 4 -4
86 Korea DPR 377 25 78
87 Kuwait 376 7 8
88 Togo 374 9 25
89 Lithuania 373 2 -10
89 Saudi Arabia 373 -1 -15
91 Congo 366 10 35
92 Uganda 362 -4 -26
93 Bahrain 361 0 -12
93 Oman 361 -1 -20
95 Georgia 360 -21 -102
96 Bulgaria 354 -11 -52
97 Vietnam 347 1 0
98 FYR Macedonia 342 4 14
99 Guyana 341 0 0
100 Antigua and Barbuda 338 -5 -22
100 Northern Ireland 338 -13 -62
102 Malawi 332 -6 -22
103 Equatorial Guinea 331 5 26
104 Zimbabwe 328 2 21
105 Rwanda 327 0 11
106 Mozambique 322 -2 3
107 Botswana 321 -7 -17
108 Bermuda 318 -5 -3
109 Bolivia 308 -3 1
110 Azerbaijan 305 6 20
111 St. Kitts and Nevis 298 -2 -3
112 Liberia 293 13 25
113 Gambia 292 10 21
113 Sudan 292 -3 -8
115 Chad 289 -3 -4
116 Sao Tome e Principe 288 -1 0
117 Kenya 285 -4 -7
118 Faroe Islands 284 -2 -1
119 Congo DR 283 1 2
119 Luxembourg 283 8 19
121 Namibia 281 11 31
121 United Arab Emirates 281 1 6
123 Niger 274 -9 -15
124 Central African Republic 271 7 20
125 Benin 269 2 5
126 Syria 268 0 1
127 Burundi 267 5 17
128 Lebanon 266 -4 -4
129 Liechtenstein 261 8 25
130 New Zealand 256 -11 -28
131 Iceland 255 -10 -22
131 Tajikistan 255 14 45
133 Cyprus 252 -4 -10
133 Suriname 252 -3 -2
135 Dominican Republic 247 0 0
136 Cuba 244 -20 -41
137 Kazakhstan 243 5 19
138 Ethiopia 236 2 5
138 Puerto Rico 236 -4 -13
140 Belize 235 -4 -3
141 Thailand 232 -2 -3
142 Moldova 222 1 6
142 Turkmenistan 222 24 108
144 Grenada 217 -7 -19
145 Tanzania 215 -4 -13
146 Nicaragua 211 -2 0
147 St. Vincent and the Grenadines 191 -1 3
148 Philippines 182 8 46
149 Nepal 164 4 20
150 Malta 161 -2 9
151 Indonesia 160 -4 0
152 Bangladesh 154 12 34
153 Palestine 151 7 20
154 New Caledonia 150 8 24
155 Samoa 149 -5 0
156 Malaysia 148 -4 0
156 Yemen 148 -8 -4
158 Singapore 145 -8 -4
159 Curacao 138 -5 -4
160 Fiji 133 -3 0
161 Bahamas 132 -6 -9
161 Hong Kong 132 -3 0
163 Lesotho 131 -3 0
164 Maldives 130 10 35
165 India 122 -7 -10
166 Madagascar 121 -3 -2
167 Aruba 120 -3 0
168 Afghanistan 118 10 33
169 Chinese Taipei 117 -1 7
170 Guinea-Bissau 116 -2 6
171 Barbados 106 -1 -1
172 Vanuatu 103 0 0
173 Cambodia 101 -7 -13
173 Myanmar 101 4 15
175 Laos 96 -2 0
176 Dominica 95 -2 0
177 Mongolia 90 -6 -16
178 Tonga 88 -2 0
179 Swaziland 86 0 3
179 Tahiti 86 4 13
181 Sri Lanka 82 5 20
182 Pakistan 80 -1 4
183 US Virgin Islands 78 -3 -4
184 Solomon Islands 75 -2 0
185 Cayman Islands 72 -1 0
186 American Samoa 61 1 0
187 Comoros 60 1 5
188 St. Lucia 52 -3 -13
189 Seychelles 47 0 0
190 Eritrea 45 0 0
191 Somalia 43 0 0
192 Mauritius 37 3 5
193 Papua New Guinea 34 1 0
194 Guam 32 -1 -4
195 Kyrgyzstan 29 -3 -10
196 Cook Islands 28 0 0
197 Djibouti 23 0 0
198 Macau 19 1 -1
199 British Virgin Islands 13 -2 -10
200 Anguilla 9 0 0
201 Bhutan 6 0 0
202 Brunei Darussalam 4 -1 -2
202 Mauritania 4 1 0
204 Timor-Leste 2 0 0
205 Andorra 0 0 0
205 Montserrat 0 0 0
205 San Marino 0 0 0
205 Turks and Caicos Islands 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.