November 2014: Recommended friendly impact

The best opponent to play against is determined using a combination of Elo ratings and FIFA rankings. Let's look at the November 2014 FIFA ranking and we'll see the impact of one extra friendly. The difference in ranking is computed assuming all things remain equal, except the points of the given team and their recommended opponent.

The most popular opponent were again a team from the UK - this time Northern Ireland (64), followed by Dominican Republic (42) and Antigua and Barbuda (36).



Of the top 20 teams, 4 would have gained points: Spain, Chile, Croatia and Mexico, but none of them would have climbed in the rankings.

Teams from the top 100 that would have gained the most (ranking-wise):

19 - Faroe Islands
14 - Venezuela
11 - Iraq

Dominican Republic would have been the recommended opponent for Faroe Islands, while Venezuela and Iraq would have benefited from a friendly against Northern Ireland.

6 - Panama
4 - Japan
3 - Ecuador, Turkey, Peru

Northern Ireland would have been the choice opponent for all these teams except Ecuador. They should have played Wales.

Looking to improve your FIFA ranking? Use the e-mail address from my profile to contact me.

November Ranking - Team - Recommended opponent - Point difference - Rank difference

1	Germany	Switzerland	-31	0
2	Argentina	Switzerland	-23	0
3	Colombia	Greece	-19	0
4	Belgium	Greece	-22	0
5	Netherlands	Switzerland	-18	0
6	Brazil	Switzerland	-14	0
7	France	Greece	-10	-1
7	Portugal	Wales	-6	-1
9	Spain	Greece	9	0
10	Uruguay	Wales	-6	0
11	Italy	Wales	-2	0
12	Switzerland	Northern Ireland	-5	0
13	England	Wales	-3	0
14	Chile	Greece	1	0
15	Romania	Wales	-15	0
16	Costa Rica	Wales	-9	-1
17	Czech Republic	Northern Ireland	-14	0
18	Algeria	Northern Ireland	-7	-1
19	Croatia	Northern Ireland	1	0
20	Mexico	Wales	1	0
21	Slovakia	Northern Ireland	-17	0
22	Tunisia	Northern Ireland	-12	-3
23	Austria	Northern Ireland	-9	-2
24	Côte d'Ivoire	Northern Ireland	3	1
25	Greece	Cape Verde Islands	10	2
26	Ukraine	Northern Ireland	7	2
27	Ecuador	Wales	9	3
28	USA	Wales	8	0
29	Bosnia-Herzegovina	Northern Ireland	10	0
30	Denmark	Northern Ireland	8	1
31	Russia	Northern Ireland	8	0
32	Israel	Northern Ireland	-5	0
33	Iceland	Northern Ireland	3	0
34	Wales	Northern Ireland	4	0
35	Senegal	Northern Ireland	-3	0
36	Scotland	Northern Ireland	12	1
37	Ghana	Northern Ireland	7	0
38	Guinea	Northern Ireland	-1	0
39	Cape Verde Islands	Northern Ireland	11	1
40	Poland	Northern Ireland	3	0
41	Cameroon	Northern Ireland	5	0
42	Nigeria	Northern Ireland	6	0
43	Sweden	Northern Ireland	19	2
44	Hungary	Cape Verde Islands	17	1
45	Slovenia	Northern Ireland	22	1
46	Serbia	Northern Ireland	24	2
47	Northern Ireland	Antigua and Barbuda	-10	0
48	Turkey	Northern Ireland	18	3
49	Mali	Northern Ireland	13	2
50	Albania	Northern Ireland	18	1
51	South Africa	Northern Ireland	10	2
52	Peru	Northern Ireland	26	3
53	Japan	Northern Ireland	14	4
54	Trinidad and Tobago	Northern Ireland	12	3
55	Congo DR	Antigua and Barbuda	1	0
56	Iran	Northern Ireland	20	5
56	Panama	Northern Ireland	23	6
58	Montenegro	Northern Ireland	25	5
59	Congo	Antigua and Barbuda	2	0
60	Egypt	Northern Ireland	21	5
61	Republic of Ireland	Northern Ireland	20	3
62	Togo	Antigua and Barbuda	10	1
62	Zambia	Antigua and Barbuda	5	1
64	Gabon	Northern Ireland	11	3
65	Burkina Faso	Northern Ireland	16	4
66	Bulgaria	Northern Ireland	31	8
67	Norway	Northern Ireland	17	5
68	Haiti	Dominican Republic	12	0
69	Korea Republic	Northern Ireland	15	1
70	Finland	Cape Verde Islands	25	2
71	Jamaica	Northern Ireland	17	3
72	Honduras	Northern Ireland	20	3
73	Guatemala	Northern Ireland	17	3
74	Uzbekistan	Northern Ireland	27	4
75	Paraguay	Northern Ireland	36	5
76	Libya	Antigua and Barbuda	19	2
77	Armenia	Northern Ireland	38	7
78	Uganda	Antigua and Barbuda	5	0
79	Cuba	Antigua and Barbuda	28	5
80	Antigua and Barbuda	Dominican Republic	5	0
81	Angola	Antigua and Barbuda	13	1
82	Morocco	Northern Ireland	21	2
83	Estonia	Antigua and Barbuda	12	3
84	Sierra Leone	Antigua and Barbuda	21	4
85	United Arab Emirates	Northern Ireland	21	4
86	Jordan	Northern Ireland	21	5
87	Bolivia	Northern Ireland	54	9
88	Cyprus	Antigua and Barbuda	12	2
89	Venezuela	Northern Ireland	78	14
90	Rwanda	Antigua and Barbuda	8	3
91	Benin	Antigua and Barbuda	20	4
91	Dominican Republic	Antigua and Barbuda	22	5
93	El Salvador	Northern Ireland	23	6
94	Malawi	Dominican Republic	5	3
95	Lithuania	Antigua and Barbuda	14	6
96	Oman	Northern Ireland	19	7
97	Latvia	Antigua and Barbuda	18	3
98	Qatar	Northern Ireland	15	2
99	China PR	Northern Ireland	26	8
100	Mozambique	Antigua and Barbuda	9	3
101	Belarus	Northern Ireland	33	10
102	Australia	Northern Ireland	32	9
103	FYR Macedonia	Antigua and Barbuda	27	7
104	Iraq	Northern Ireland	38	11
105	Faroe Islands	Dominican Republic	66	19
106	Saudi Arabia	Antigua and Barbuda	16	4
106	Zimbabwe	Antigua and Barbuda	13	4
108	Botswana	Dominican Republic	11	3
109	Namibia	Dominican Republic	24	4
110	Canada	Antigua and Barbuda	34	6
110	Ethiopia	Antigua and Barbuda	16	1
112	Tanzania	Antigua and Barbuda	11	3
113	Palestine	Dominican Republic	9	1
114	Kenya	Antigua and Barbuda	17	4
115	Sudan	Antigua and Barbuda	13	2
116	Niger	Dominican Republic	19	3
117	St. Kitts and Nevis	Dominican Republic	20	4
118	St. Vincent and the Grenadines	Dominican Republic	13	3
119	Equatorial Guinea	Dominican Republic	61	11
120	Moldova	Antigua and Barbuda	21	6
121	Liberia	Dominican Republic	61	13
122	Lesotho	Dominican Republic	12	5
123	Kuwait	Northern Ireland	18	7
124	Burundi	Dominican Republic	17	8
125	Bahrain	Antigua and Barbuda	18	9
126	Georgia	Antigua and Barbuda	39	13
127	Lebanon	Antigua and Barbuda	29	12
128	Philippines	Dominican Republic	10	2
129	Luxembourg	Dominican Republic	32	13
130	Liechtenstein	Dominican Republic	23	4
131	Aruba	American Samoa	25	6
131	Guinea-Bissau	Dominican Republic	61	18
133	Afghanistan	Aruba	8	3
133	New Zealand	Northern Ireland	66	20
135	Azerbaijan	Antigua and Barbuda	35	15
135	Tajikistan	Dominican Republic	40	16
137	Korea DPR	Northern Ireland	47	20
138	Vietnam	Dominican Republic	25	10
139	Kazakhstan	Antigua and Barbuda	30	11
140	Myanmar	Aruba	5	2
141	Mauritania	Dominican Republic	16	4
142	Maldives	Aruba	8	0
143	Barbados	Dominican Republic	61	18
144	Thailand	Dominican Republic	31	7
145	St. Lucia	Aruba	6	3
146	Central African Republic	Dominican Republic	61	20
147	Chad	Dominican Republic	61	19
148	Madagascar	Dominican Republic	61	18
148	Malta	Dominican Republic	39	9
148	Turkmenistan	Dominican Republic	61	18
151	Syria	Antigua and Barbuda	67	16
152	Grenada	Dominican Republic	41	10
153	Kyrgyzstan	Aruba	13	2
154	New Caledonia	Antigua and Barbuda	67	16
155	Malaysia	Dominican Republic	23	4
156	Curaçao	Aruba	-1	0
157	Indonesia	Dominican Republic	25	6
158	Singapore	Dominican Republic	24	6
159	Hong Kong	Dominican Republic	30	8
159	Laos	American Samoa	7	3
161	Puerto Rico	Aruba	35	10
162	Swaziland	Dominican Republic	27	7
163	Bangladesh	American Samoa	26	8
164	Suriname	Dominican Republic	61	16
165	Guam	American Samoa	9	3
166	Tahiti	Dominican Republic	61	15
167	Gambia	Antigua and Barbuda	67	16
168	Montserrat	American Samoa	25	5
169	Sri Lanka	American Samoa	25	5
170	Guyana	Dominican Republic	61	16
170	India	Aruba	35	9
170	Sao Tome e Principe	Aruba	34	8
173	Comoros	American Samoa	26	7
174	Nicaragua	Aruba	29	8
174	Seychelles	Aruba	15	7
174	Yemen	Dominican Republic	26	8
177	Belize	Aruba	34	12
178	Turks and Caicos Islands	American Samoa	26	11
179	Nepal	American Samoa	26	9
180	Bermuda	Dominican Republic	62	18
180	Cambodia	American Samoa	9	1
180	San Marino	American Samoa	14	2
183	Pakistan	American Samoa	25	10
184	Solomon Islands	Dominican Republic	62	22
185	Timor-Leste	American Samoa	25	11
186	Macau	American Samoa	25	9
187	Dominica	American Samoa	9	7
188	Chinese Taipei	American Samoa	17	9
189	South Sudan	Dominican Republic	45	21
190	Vanuatu	Dominican Republic	61	23
191	Mauritius	Aruba	35	13
192	Fiji	Antigua and Barbuda	66	25
192	Samoa	American Samoa	25	12
194	Mongolia	American Samoa	25	11
195	Bahamas	American Samoa	26	10
196	Tonga	American Samoa	26	7
197	US Virgin Islands	American Samoa	25	7
198	Brunei Darussalam	American Samoa	26	8
199	Papua New Guinea	Aruba	35	12
200	American Samoa	Bhutan	26	10
201	Andorra	American Samoa	20	7
202	British Virgin Islands	American Samoa	25	12
202	Eritrea	Aruba	34	12
204	Cayman Islands	American Samoa	26	12
204	Djibouti	American Samoa	26	12
206	Cook Islands	American Samoa	25	12
206	Somalia	American Samoa	25	12
208	Anguilla	American Samoa	25	13
209	Bhutan	American Samoa	26	14

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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.