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Friday, January 31, 2014

FIFA Ranking: February 2014 preview

Next update: 7 February 2014.

5 matches left: 2 continental qualifiers (Oman - Jordan and Singapore - Jordan) and 3 friendlies (USA - Korea Republic and the final matches of the 2014 CHAN).

This is how the points and rankings could change:

AFCON 2015 qualifiers: Official format and seeding

CAF have announced the format for the 2015 AFCON qualifiers last week. See the press release (PDF file).

As for the qualifiers' draw, it shall be held Sunday, April 27th 2014 in Cairo, Egypt. The qualifiers shall be played in the format of several preliminary rounds, as well as a group phase with seven groups consisting of four teams each. The two top teams of each group will then directly qualify for the Orange AFCON 2015, along with the 3rd place winners of the seven groups.

EURO 2016: Minimum travel groups

Remember the EURO 2016 regulations leaked by the Romanian FA?

There were some principles no longer found in the latest regulations:

b) Venues with climate risk

 - Stadiums belonging to FAs from countries with cold winters are in this category
 - In a group there will be at most 3 teams from countries with cold winters. There are two subcategories: Very cold winter (Finland, Faroe Islands, Norway and Russia) and Cold winter (Andorra, Belarus, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Sweden and Ukraine).

Friday, January 24, 2014

UEFA EURO 2016 official qualifying draw pots

Source: UEFA.com

Pot 1: Spain (holders), Germany, Netherlands, Italy, England, Portugal, Greece, Russia, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Pot 2: Ukraine, Croatia, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Belgium, Czech Republic, Hungary, Republic of Ireland
Pot 3: Serbia, Turkey, Slovenia, Israel, Norway, Slovakia, Romania, Austria, Poland
Pot 4: Montenegro, Armenia, Scotland, Finland, Latvia, Wales, Bulgaria, Estonia, Belarus
Pot 5: Iceland, Northern Ireland, Albania, Lithuania, Moldova, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Cyprus
Pot 6: Luxembourg, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein, Faroe Islands, Malta, Andorra, San Marino, Gibraltar




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, January 17, 2014

UEFA EURO 2016 qualifying draw seeding info

There have been some changes in the coefficient calculation as noticed by Ed and peeotreck.

First of all the bonus point were tweaked. Second, the calculation for national associations that have hosted a final tournament in the reference period was changed.

In the case of an association that has hosted a UEFA EURO or FIFA World Cup final tournament during one of the reference periods as mentioned under Annex B.1.2 and therefore has no points from the respective qualifying competition, the points earned in the most recent qualifying competition in which the association has taken part are used.

Friday, January 10, 2014

FIFA Ranking: January 2014 final preview

I expect FIFA to include all 2014 CHAN matches in the February ranking.

Albania will overtake Norway for the first time ever.
Tajikistan will overtake Iraq for the first time ever.

Best movers:

13 - Saudi Arabia
10 - Egypt
9 - South Africa