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Friday, February 4, 2022

FIFA ranking: February 2022 final preview

FIFA will publish the February ranking next Thursday February 10th. This final preview contains 123 matches, out of 127 matches played since December 20th. 


Only the third place match tomorrow between tournament host Cameroon and Burkina Faso and the final on Sunday of the African Cup of Nations 2022 between Senegal and Egypt are to be played:


CMR

BFA

pts

pos

pts

pos

Cameroon win

1490,93

36

1418,01

56

Cameroon PSO win

1480,93

38

1420,11

56

Burkina Faso PSO win

1473,03

38

1430,11

54

Burkina Faso win

1473,03

38

1440,11

51

SEN

EGY

pts

pos

pts

pos

Senegal win

1597,87

17

1493,67

34

Senegal PSO win

1587,87

18

1497,00

34

Egypt PSO win

1581,20

19

1507,00

33

Egypt win

1581,20

19

1517,00

30


Elo predicts a straight Cameroon win for third place and a Senegal PSO win in the final.


Belgium still clings on to top spot as Brazil seems sort of unwilling to take over. Algeria had an abysmal group stage in the AFCON and, contrary to my predictions, lost heavily. They can now be found on spot 43.


Two teams record new highs:

Senegal (17, 18 or 19 - 20 in July 2019)

Canada (33 - 40 in December 1996)


One team reaches their highest ranking again:

Kosovo (109 - first in September 2021)


Best movers:

25 - Gambia

15 - Equatorial Guinea

14 - Cameroon


Worst movers:

-14 - Algeria

-13 - Mauritania

-9 - Ghana, Sudan


Best movers in the top 50:

14 - Cameroon

11 - Egypt

7 - Canada, Costa Rica


Worst movers in the top 50:

-14 - Algeria

-7 - Tunisia, Paraguay


Stay safe and healthy everybody !


pos Feb

team

pts Feb

+/- pos

+/- pts

1

Belgium

1828,45

0

0

2

Brazil

1823,42

0

-2,93

3

France

1786,15

0

0

4

Argentina

1766,99

1

16,48

5

England

1755,52

-1

0

6

Italy

1740,77

0

0

7

Spain

1704,75

0

0

8

Portugal

1660,25

0

0

9

Denmark

1654,54

0

0

10

Netherlands

1653,73

0

0

11

Germany

1648,33

1

0

12

Mexico

1647,90

2

9,60

13

USA

1643,34

-2

-5,17

14

Switzerland

1642,83

-1

0

15

Croatia

1620,74

0

0

16

Uruguay

1614,05

1

17,39

17

Sweden

1588,26

1

0

18

Senegal

1587,87

2

26,19

19

Colombia

1585,89

-3

-21,26

20

Wales

1578,01

-1

0

21

Iran

1572,89

0

15,31

22

Peru

1563,45

0

12,30

23

Japan

1549,82

3

18,29

24

Morocco

1547,38

4

17,45

24

Serbia

1547,38

-1

0

26

Chile

1543,16

-2

-0,26

27

Ukraine

1535,08

-2

0

28

Poland

1530,62

-1

0

29

Korea Republic

1522,85

4

15,61

30

Austria

1511,56

1

0

31

Czech Republic

1510,42

1

0

32

Nigeria

1509,85

4

31,07

33

Canada

1497,82

7

35,50

34

Egypt

1497,00

11

45,23

35

Russia

1493,42

-1

0

36

Cameroon

1490,93

14

53,58

37

Tunisia

1489,92

-7

-22,80

38

Australia

1486,86

-3

1,98

39

Turkey

1472,72

-2

0

40

Scotland

1471,82

-2

0

41

Hungary

1465,62

-2

0

42

Costa Rica

1464,06

7

26,63

43

Algeria

1460,93

-14

-55,58

44

Ecuador

1458,63

2

10,36

45

Norway

1455,43

-4

0

46

Slovakia

1455,36

-4

0

47

Romania

1453,18

-3

0

48

Mali

1446,49

5

18,51

49

Republic of Ireland

1444,29

-2

0

50

Paraguay

1440,53

-7

-13,99

51

Cote d'Ivoire

1439,62

5

21,76

52

Qatar

1437,91

-4

0

53

Saudi Arabia

1433,95

-2

-0,76

54

Northern Ireland

1424,97

0

0

55

Greece

1421,99

0

0

56

Burkina Faso

1418,01

4

20,37

57

Finland

1411,77

1

0

58

Venezuela

1411,45

1

2,31

59

Bosnia-Herzegovina

1391,19

2

0

60

Iceland

1382,81

2

-2,40

61

Ghana

1381,34

-9

-47,63

62

Jamaica

1378,62

-5

-33,51

63

Panama

1375,56

0

-3,78

64

Slovenia

1375,42

1

0

65

Albania

1374,98

1

0

66

Congo DR

1369,53

-2

-6,11

67

North Macedonia

1367,23

0

0

68

South Africa

1358,24

0

0

69

United Arab Emirates

1353,10

0

2,71

70

El Salvador

1346,04

0

-3,43

71

Bulgaria

1345,47

0

0

72

Montenegro

1342,89

0

0

73

Cape Verde Islands

1337,01

0

-2,47

74

Iraq

1325,44

1

-7,59

75

China PR

1313,81

-1

-23,52

76

Bolivia

1308,12

1

-16,09

77

Israel

1306,70

1

0

78

Honduras

1303,96

-2

-28,20

79

Oman

1301,00

0

-5,01

80

Curacao

1298,39

0

0

81

Guinea

1292,65

0

-5,67

82

Gabon

1288,99

7

26,99

83

Benin

1282,53

0

0

84

Uganda

1279,18

-2

-6,10

85

Uzbekistan

1274,58

-1

0

86

Georgia

1269,24

-1

0

87

Haiti

1268,05

0

0

88

Zambia

1264,64

0

0

89

Bahrain

1263,61

2

11,42

90

Jordan

1259,84

0

4,15

91

Syria

1251,22

-5

-17,32

92

Armenia

1242,24

0

0

93

Luxembourg

1236,45

0

0

94

Belarus

1233,43

0

0

95

Lebanon

1228,97

0

-4,03

96

Kyrgyzstan

1228,69

0

0

97

Congo

1221,40

0

0

98

Vietnam

1218,55

0

6,01

99

Equatorial Guinea

1210,07

15

53,29

100

Palestine

1208,90

-1

0

101

Trinidad and Tobago

1205,99

-1

-1,95

102

Madagascar

1205,61

-1

0

103

Kenya

1202,26

-1

0

104

India

1182,75

0

0

105

Cyprus

1178,65

0

0

106

Estonia

1176,50

1

0

107

Sierra Leone

1173,81

1

-0,31

108

Korea DPR

1169,96

1

0

109

Kosovo

1163,05

2

0

110

Namibia

1162,93

2

0

111

New Zealand

1161,66

-1

-4,15

112

Thailand

1160,14

3

3,98

113

Guinea-Bissau

1158,54

-7

-18,60

114

Niger

1158,39

-1

0

115

Tajikistan

1152,56

1

0

116

Mauritania

1152,52

-13

-37,74

117

Mozambique

1151,01

1

0

118

Libya

1149,51

-1

-1,55

119

Malawi

1147,34

10

20,13

120

Kazakhstan

1140,71

-1

0

121

Azerbaijan

1139,02

-1

0

122

Zimbabwe

1138,59

-1

0,15

123

Guatemala

1138,40

-1

0

124

Faroe Islands

1136,99

-1

0

125

Gambia

1135,18

25

85,44

126

Togo

1133,24

-2

0

127

Angola

1131,72

-1

0

128

Antigua and Barbuda

1131,08

-1

0

129

Philippines

1129,91

-1

0

130

Central African Republic

1127,20

0

0

131

Comoros

1123,86

1

6,21

132

Tanzania

1118,76

-1

0

133

Turkmenistan

1117,60

0

0

134

Sudan

1115,85

-9

-15,89

135

Latvia

1100,03

-1

0

136

Rwanda

1097,16

-1

1,82

137

Lithuania

1091,77

-1

0

138

Suriname

1085,63

1

8,06

139

Ethiopia

1083,80

-2

-4,09

140

St. Kitts and Nevis

1077,76

-2

0

141

Burundi

1075,82

-1

0

142

Solomon Islands

1072,78

-1

0

143

Kuwait

1065,56

-1

1,54

144

Nicaragua

1065,34

-1

3,13

145

Liberia

1058,28

-1

0

146

Lesotho

1057,62

-1

0

147

Eswatini

1054,14

-1

0

148

Hong Kong

1053,39

-1

0

149

Botswana

1051,59

-1

0

150

Afghanistan

1049,77

-1

0

151

Yemen

1046,26

0

0

152

Myanmar

1044,56

0

0

153

New Caledonia

1035,12

0

0

154

Malaysia

1034,53

0

0

155

Andorra

1030,28

0

0

156

Dominican Republic

1029,42

0

0

157

Maldives

1021,58

0

0

158

Chinese Taipei

1017,78

0

0

159

Tahiti

1014,27

0

0

160

Indonesia

1001,61

4

9,30

161

Singapore

1000,78

-1

-2,61

162

Fiji

996,27

-1

0

163

Vanuatu

995,62

0

0

164

Barbados

991,71

-2

-4,23

165

Papua New Guinea

990,55

0

0

166

Bermuda

982,43

0

0

167

Nepal

982,22

2

9,77

168

South Sudan

980,25

-1

0

169

Grenada

974,03

-1

0

170

Cambodia

966,61

1

0

171

Belize

964,29

-1

-3,13

172

Puerto Rico

962,77

1

0

173

St. Vincent and the Grenadines

960,71

1

0

174

Malta

958,95

1

0

175

Mauritius

955,18

-3

-9,76

176

Guyana

955,03

0

-3,84

177

St. Lucia

953,45

0

0

178

Montserrat

950,71

0

0

179

Cuba

948,96

0

0

180

Chad

935,00

0

0

181

Moldova

926,85

0

-1,50

182

Macau

922,10

0

0

183

Dominica

916,72

0

0

184

Mongolia

916,68

0

0

185

Bhutan

910,96

0

0

186

Bangladesh

907,83

0

0

187

Laos

904,60

0

0

188

Brunei Darussalam

903,90

0

0

189

Sao Tomé e Príncipe

903,31

0

0

190

American Samoa

900,27

0

0

191

Liechtenstein

899,52

0

0

192

Djibouti

896,62

0

0

193

Samoa

894,26

0

0

194

Somalia

873,71

0

0

195

Cayman Islands

873,64

0

0

196

Seychelles

870,63

1

0

197

Pakistan

866,81

1

0

198

Timor-Leste

865,47

-2

-7,66

199

Tonga

861,81

0

0

200

Aruba

859,97

0

0

201

Bahamas

858,50

0

0

202

Eritrea

855,56

0

0

203

Gibraltar

853,60

0

0

204

Sri Lanka

842,93

0

0

205

Turks and Caicos Islands

839,84

0

0

206

Guam

838,33

0

0

207

US Virgin Islands

816,13

0

0

208

British Virgin Islands

812,94

0

0

209

Anguilla

792,34

0

0

210

San Marino

780,33

0

0


About me:

Software engineer, happily unmarried and non-religious. You won't find me on Twitter or other so called social media. Dutchman, joined the blog in March 2018.

19 comments:

  1. Hi Ed, thx again for your magnificant work!

    I trying to create my own, - handheld.... :-) world ranks and this month it has been quite difficult to get the friendlies right, so to speak.

    My question is.... - have you included Ethiopia-Sudan 3-2 Dec 30th? Several websites state that the match were played in to halfs each of 60 minutes.

    I wonder if thats good enough for FIFA so to speak, again.... :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes Henrik, I've included that friendly.

    It's always difficult to decide beforehand if a friendly is included or not. I've my own set of inclusion rules, but almost every time I have to make some adjustments after publication of the ranking. Luckily now with two decimals published it's fairly easy to determine if a friendly is included or not.

    Since FIFA does not maintain a complete and valid list of the matches they include, it's the only way to go, unfortunately.

    In the old days when they did maintain such a list on their website, it also occurred frequently that after publication adjustments to their list were made, so I've learned to live with that for a long time already :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm just glad i'm not the only one.... :-) FIFA could easily improve on the informative level.

    As it is with the date of the WC draw. Some weeks ago UEFA announced the draw to be held on Apr 3rd. Now they've changed the date to Apr 1st.

    Btw.... - do you know how to get access to FIFA's digitalhub documents?

    https://digitalhub.fifa.com/login/

    ReplyDelete
  4. Well, April 1st was earlier announced by FIFA, then UEFA made it suddenly April 3rd in their 2022-agenda. And now apparently UEFA has seen the light and they finally reach consensus about the date :)

    No, but I suspect that you can use the 'Register a new account' button in the login dialogue to get a login :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yeah, I've tried. :-)

    Unfortunately I need a recommendation in the proces and the Danish Football Association are not keen on helping me there.

    ReplyDelete
  6. FIFA published the rankings, but their numbers for African teams seem off. Is it possible that they botched their own rankings?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Its more likely that FIFA excluded some of the test matches ahead of AFCON.... - and included others from other continents. :-)

      Delete
    2. I removed the following from my own records (actually some already were) but if I do this then I get exactly the same numbers as FIFA, so nothing screwed up about the rankings. This means there's exactly 116 matches as FIFA states.

      2021-12-30 Ethiopia v Sudan
      2021-12-31 Malawi v Comoros
      2022-01-02 Burkina Faso v Gabon
      2022-01-02 Sudan v Zimbabwe
      2022-01-27 Anguilla v British Virgin Islands
      2022-01-28 Surinam v Barbados
      2022-01-29 Nicaragua v Belize
      2022-01-30 Guyana v Barbados (abandoned due to Covid)
      2022-01-31 Jordan v South Sudan (latter used 9 substitutes)
      2022-02-01 Nicaragua v Belize
      2022-02-01 Surinam v Guyana

      Delete
    3. FIFA added South Sudan-Uzbekistan 0-3....

      Delete
    4. Indeed, some preparatory African friendlies were excluded, which caused a lot of small differences for African teams participating in the AFCON. Nothing extraordinary in the end.

      FIFA excluded and I included:
      2021-12-30 Sudan - Ethiopia 2:3 friendly in Cameroon
      2021-12-31 Comoros - Malawi 1:2 friendly in Saudi Arabia
      2022-01-02 Burkina Faso - Gabon 3:0 friendly in UAE
      2022-01-02 Sudan - Zimbabwe 0:0 friendly in Cameroon
      2022-01-28 Suriname - Barbados 1:0 friendly tournament in Suriname
      2022-01-29 Nicaragua - Belize 4:0 friendly in Nicaragua
      2022-02-01 Suriname - Guyana 2:1 friendly tournament in Suriname
      2022-02-01 Nicaragua - Belize 1:1 friendly in Nicaragua

      FIFA included and I excluded:
      2022-01-27 Uzbekistan - South Sudan 3:0 friendly in UAE

      Delete
    5. Ah, pity. I was ready for a fresh round of FIFA-ridiculing. ;)

      Delete
  7. Hi Ed, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee has finally reached their decisions regarding the abandoned match Brazil-Argentina.

    The match shall be replayed on a date and at a location decided by FIFA.

    Do you have any indications whether the match will be played in the March window or in the June window?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Ah, finally a decision, thanks.

    Well, it really will be a match with nothing at stake. They are both qualified and they are both certain of a pot 1 seeding. These teams have to play the last two group matches in March of course. I don't know for sure if there is room for a third match in that window.

    I think they will play in June, a window where for these two South American giants nothing was scheduled anyway. Wait, Argentina plays on June 1st a match in London against Italy as current continental champions for a new Europe-SA Super Cup.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Love your work.

    Nerdy question: is it known yet how the Finalissimo (Italy Argentina, 1st June) will be treated ranking wise? It's one of the rare opportunities for "coupling" of CONMEBOL and UEFA (other than the World Cup itself), which is "good for the integrity of the ranking.

    ReplyDelete
  10. You (and everybody else) are welcome !

    As far as I know this match will be treated as an ordinary friendly played inside a FIFA window (I-factor = 10).
    Although, it is the first in it's kind, so maybe FIFA will put it in another category after all, but I don't expect that.

    ReplyDelete