May 2010: FIFA Ranking vs. Elo Ratings

Top 10 differences for countries with a better Elo Rating:

Team - FIFA Ranking - Elo Rating - Difference

Central African Republic	202	132	70
Solomon Islands	170	119	51
Guinea-Bissau	191	142	49
Tahiti	191	148	43
Papua New Guinea	202	166	36
Oman	91	57	34
Syria	98	64	34
China PR	84	51	33
Niger	162	129	33
Cuba	126	94	32

Top 10 differences for countries with a better FIFA Ranking:

Team - FIFA Ranking - Elo Rating - Difference

Algeria	30	76	-46
Benin	60	104	-44
Luxembourg	127	169	-42
Gabon	42	83	-41
Burkina Faso	48	88	-40
Faroe Islands	125	155	-30
Mozambique	85	114	-29
Latvia	46	74	-28
Swaziland	131	157	-26
Togo	76	99	-23

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

Korea Republic	47	23	24
Saudi Arabia	66	43	23
Iran	61	44	17
Denmark	36	20	16
Sweden	37	21	16
Venezuela	49	33	16
Republic of Ireland	41	27	14
Turkey	29	17	12
Poland	58	46	12
Colombia	35	25	10

Top 10 differences for countries with a better FIFA Ranking:

Team - FIFA Ranking - Elo Rating - Difference

Algeria	30	76	-46
Gabon	42	83	-41
Burkina Faso	48	88	-40
Latvia	46	74	-28
Slovenia	25	47	-22
Cameroon	19	36	-17
Nigeria	21	38	-17
Lithuania	49	64	-15
Greece	13	27	-14
Slovakia	34	48	-14

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

Korea Republic - Slovenia
Saudi Arabia - Algeria
Iran - Latvia
Denmark - Slovakia
Sweden - Gabon
Venezuela - Lithuania
Republic of Ireland - Burkina Faso
Turkey - Greece
Poland - Benin
Colombia - Northern Ireland

---

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: May 2010 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 May 20th, 2010.

The deadline for matches was yesterday, but FIFA might include more matches, but no later than Sunday.

No changes in the top 10.

Two countries will improve their best ever ranking:

Montenegro (64th - 65th last month)
Comoros (171st - 172nd last month)

Burkina Faso will return to their best ever ranking 49th, first achieved in November 2009.

Macau will return to their worst ever ranking - 197th, achieved in August 2008.

Two countries will have their worst ever ranking:

Congo DR (121st - 118th in September 2009)
Lebanon (160th - 159th in May 2009)

Best movers:

7 - South Africa
6 - Oman
4 - Slovakia, Mozambique, Eritrea, Afghanistan, Brunei Darussalam

Worst movers:

-14 - Cambodia
-10 - Congo DR
-8 - Ecuador

Best movers in the top 50:

4 - Slovakia
3 - Burkina Faso
2 - Uruguay, Ukraine, Switzerland, Honduras, Costa Rica, Republic of Ireland

Worst movers in the top 50:

-8 - Ecuador
-3 - Chile
-2 - Slovenia, Israel, Lithuania

May 2010 rank - Team - May 2010 points - +/- Ranking - +/- Points

1	Brazil	1611	0	0
2	Spain	1565	0	0
3	Portugal	1249	0	0
4	Netherlands	1231	0	10
5	Italy	1184	0	0
6	Germany	1082	0	-25
7	Argentina	1076	0	-8
8	England	1068	0	0
9	Croatia	1051	0	-1
10	France	1044	0	0
11	Russia	1015	0	12
12	Egypt	967	1	0
13	Greece	964	-1	-4
14	USA	957	0	7
15	Serbia	947	1	3
16	Uruguay	899	2	-3
17	Mexico	895	0	-41
18	Chile	888	-3	-60
19	Cameroon	887	0	0
20	Australia	886	0	3
21	Nigeria	883	-1	0
22	Norway	882	0	3
23	Ukraine	875	2	20
24	Switzerland	866	2	12
25	Slovenia	860	-2	0
26	Israel	857	-2	0
27	Romania	853	1	10
28	Côte d'Ivoire	846	-1	0
29	Czech Republic	827	0	0
30	Algeria	821	1	0
31	Paraguay	820	-1	-2
32	Turkey	812	1	14
33	Ghana	800	-1	-2
34	Slovakia	777	4	35
35	Colombia	776	-1	-1
36	Denmark	767	-1	0
37	Sweden	761	0	4
38	Honduras	734	2	7
39	Bulgaria	711	0	-29
40	Costa Rica	710	2	4
41	Republic of Ireland	709	2	19
42	Gabon	700	-1	-7
43	Scotland	699	1	15
44	Ecuador	694	-8	-69
45	Japan	682	0	8
46	Latvia	652	0	0
47	Korea Republic	632	0	13
48	Finland	613	1	8
49	Burkina Faso	611	3	22
50	Lithuania	608	-2	-8
50	Venezuela	608	-1	3
52	Bosnia-Herzegovina	604	-1	0
53	Peru	578	0	-1
54	Mali	575	0	0
55	Tunisia	574	0	0
56	Northern Ireland	566	1	11
57	Hungary	565	-1	-2
58	Poland	561	0	9
59	Belgium	539	3	21
60	Benin	531	-1	0
61	FYR Macedonia	521	-1	0
61	Iran	521	-1	0
63	Canada	516	0	0
64	Montenegro	500	1	0
65	Bolivia	499	2	8
66	Saudi Arabia	495	0	0
67	Cyprus	486	1	-2
68	Austria	479	-4	-30
69	Bahrain	475	0	0
70	Morocco	463	0	-6
71	Zambia	456	0	4
72	El Salvador	452	-1	0
73	Uganda	440	1	3
74	Wales	436	1	7
75	Panama	434	1	13
76	Senegal	422	1	8
77	Togo	418	-4	-20
78	New Zealand	410	0	-3
79	Albania	406	1	0
80	Iraq	405	2	11
81	Jamaica	399	-2	-13
82	Belarus	397	-1	0
83	South Africa	391	7	22
84	China PR	387	1	-3
85	Mozambique	383	4	5
86	Malawi	382	-4	-12
87	Guinea	381	0	0
88	Angola	379	-3	-11
89	Moldova	378	-5	-14
90	Iceland	367	1	0
91	Haiti	362	-4	-19
91	Oman	362	6	16
93	Gambia	361	0	0
94	Uzbekistan	354	0	0
95	Trinidad and Tobago	353	-4	-14
96	Qatar	351	-1	0
97	Kuwait	350	-1	2
98	Syria	343	0	1
99	Armenia	311	0	0
100	United Arab Emirates	310	0	0
101	Libya	309	1	4
102	Congo	308	-1	0
103	Jordan	300	0	-1
104	Estonia	296	0	0
105	Korea DPR	285	1	-7
106	Thailand	276	-1	-18
107	Rwanda	269	0	0
108	Tanzania	261	0	2
109	Azerbaijan	259	1	2
110	Zimbabwe	258	3	10
111	Namibia	251	1	0
112	Yemen	248	-3	-10
113	Kenya	243	1	0
114	Cape Verde Islands	241	3	5
114	Guatemala	241	1	0
116	Botswana	235	0	-2
117	Vietnam	231	1	0
118	Sudan	220	3	9
119	Antigua and Barbuda	218	0	1
120	Georgia	217	-1	0
121	Congo DR	215	-10	-38
122	Guyana	205	0	0
123	Ethiopia	200	0	-4
124	Grenada	198	0	0
125	Faroe Islands	196	0	0
126	Cuba	194	-1	-2
127	Luxembourg	193	0	0
127	Singapore	193	0	0
129	Kazakhstan	182	0	2
130	Sierra Leone	181	3	19
131	Swaziland	171	0	6
132	Fiji	167	-2	0
133	India	163	-1	-1
134	Bermuda	160	0	0
135	Barbados	155	0	-2
135	Tajikistan	155	0	-2
137	Indonesia	153	0	0
137	Suriname	153	3	6
139	Hong Kong	150	0	0
139	Turkmenistan	150	-2	-3
141	Equatorial Guinea	142	0	0
142	Maldives	129	1	0
143	Chad	128	1	0
144	Burundi	127	1	0
145	New Caledonia	126	1	0
146	Malaysia	123	1	0
147	Myanmar	122	-5	-19
148	Madagascar	121	1	6
149	Liechtenstein	117	-1	0
150	Liberia	114	2	2
151	St. Kitts and Nevis	113	0	0
152	Lesotho	109	-3	-6
153	Vanuatu	108	0	0
154	Netherlands Antilles	103	3	5
155	Eritrea	101	4	6
155	Nicaragua	101	0	0
157	Bangladesh	100	3	6
157	Malta	100	-3	-3
159	Sri Lanka	99	-3	0
160	Lebanon	98	-3	0
161	Nepal	96	0	4
162	Niger	92	-1	0
163	St. Vincent and the Grenadines	91	1	0
164	Mauritania	81	1	0
165	Pakistan	78	1	0
166	Puerto Rico	76	2	0
167	Chinese Taipei	75	-1	-3
168	Kyrgyzstan	74	-7	-18
169	Philippines	67	1	12
170	Solomon Islands	60	-1	0
171	Comoros	43	1	0
172	Mauritius	40	1	0
173	Cayman Islands	39	1	0
173	Laos	39	1	0
173	Palestine	39	1	0
173	Somalia	39	1	0
177	Samoa	38	2	0
178	Seychelles	37	-4	-2
179	Belize	36	2	2
179	Mongolia	36	1	0
181	Bahamas	34	0	0
181	Cook Islands	34	0	0
183	Dominica	33	1	0
184	Turks and Caicos Islands	32	1	0
185	Cambodia	30	-14	-24
186	Tonga	28	0	0
187	Dominican Republic	26	0	0
188	Djibouti	23	0	0
189	Afghanistan	21	4	4
189	Brunei Darussalam	21	4	4
191	Guinea-Bissau	19	-2	0
191	St. Lucia	19	-2	0
191	Tahiti	19	-2	0
194	British Virgin Islands	18	-2	0
195	Guam	17	-2	0
196	Bhutan	15	1	4
197	Macau	13	-1	-2
198	Aruba	11	-1	0
199	US Virgin Islands	5	0	0
200	Timor-Leste	4	0	0
201	Andorra	2	0	0
202	American Samoa	0	0	0
202	Anguilla	0	0	0
202	Central African Republic	0	0	0
202	Montserrat	0	0	0
202	Papua New Guinea	0	0	0
202	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.

World Cup provisional squads statistics

I didn't plan on doing this, but since Dorian asked...

353 clubs have players in this provisional list (thank you PDF Unlock), with three players currently unattached: Craig Moore (Australia), Simon Elliott and Dave Mulligan (both New Zealand).

England is the best represented league - 139 players, with Germany (94), Italy (93), Spain (74) and France (58) completing the top 5.

Top 5 leagues of countries not qualified to the World Cup:

1. Russia (16)
2. Turkey (15)
3. Scotland (12)
4. Belgium (10)
5. Israel (7)

Here's the top 25 for all leagues:

1	England	139
2	Germany	94
3	Italy	93
4	Spain	74
5	France	58
6	Netherlands	47
7	Japan	34
8	Greece	33
9	Mexico	25
10	Portugal	23
11	South Africa	21
12	Honduras	20
12	Korea DPR	20
14	Argentina	19
15	Korea Republic	18
16	Russia	16
16	Switzerland	16
18	Turkey	15
19	Chile	14
19	Denmark	14
21	New Zealand	13
22	Scotland	12
22	USA	12
24	Belgium	10
25	Algeria	8
25	Brazil	8

By club

17 - Chelsea
14 - Barcelona
12 - Liverpool, Panathinaikos, Real Madrid
11 - Ajax, Arsenal, Bayern Munich, Juventus, Tottenham Hotspur
10 - Inter
9 - AC Milan, Everton, Udinese, Wolfsburg
8 - AZ Alkmaar, Basel, Manchester City, Twente Enschede, Valencia, VfB Stuttgart
7 - April 25, Benfica, Hamburger SV, Lyon, Manchester Utd., Marseille, Portsmouth, PSV Eindhoven, Rennes, Villarreal, West Ham Utd.

Top 10 oldest players

David JAMES	England	Portsmouth	39.810958
Sander BOSCHKER	Netherlands	Twente Enschede	39.59178
Marcus HAHNEMANN	USA	Wolverhampton	37.936986
Mark SCHWARZER	Australia	Fulham	37.627397
Cuauhtemoc BLANCO	Mexico	Veracruz	37.345205
Oscar PEREZ	Mexico	Chiapas	37.304109
LEE Woon Jae	Korea Republic	Suwon Bluewings	37.073972
Fabio CANNAVARO	Italy	Juventus	36.69041
Carlos PAVON	Honduras	Real Espana	36.619178
Martin PALERMO	Argentina	Boca Juniors	36.539726

Blanco is the oldest outfield player in this list, followed by Cannavaro and Pavon.

Top 10 youngest players

Christian ERIKSEN	Denmark	Ajax	18.25753
Vincent ABOUBAKAR	Cameroon	Coton Sport	18.32055
Nassim BEN KHALIFA	Switzerland	Grasshopper Club	18.34521
Thomas OAR	Australia	Utrecht	18.43836
Chris WOOD	New Zealand	West Bromwich Albion	18.44658
Xherdan SHAQIRI	Switzerland	Basel	18.60548
Jacques ZOUA	Cameroon	Basel	18.69863
Terna SUSWAN	Nigeria	Lobi Stars	18.70137
Joel MATIP	Cameroon	Schalke 04	18.77808
Konstantinos MANOLAS	Greece	AEK Athens	18.92877

Average squad age

Italy	28.22128
England	28.14813
Paraguay	28.12767
Denmark	28.11196
Brazil	27.97461
Japan	27.84931
Australia	27.71078
Honduras	27.53023
Portugal	27.50511
Netherlands	27.38137
France	27.36886
Argentina	27.21068
Korea Republic	27.1611
South Africa	27.12922
Cote d'Ivoire	26.95927
Mexico	26.95637
Uruguay	26.90906
USA	26.88164
New Zealand	26.7821
Slovenia	26.7411
Greece	26.71918
Slovakia	26.59726
Algeria	26.51397
Switzerland	26.47644
Spain	26.24502
Chile	26.22036
Nigeria	25.62146
Germany	25.48219
Serbia	25.47525
Korea DPR	25.32329
Cameroon	25.19726
Ghana	24.83598

Local players vs. foreign players

England are the only team with 100% local players. Italy (Giuseppe Rossi) and Germany (Michael Ballack) have only 1 foreign based player in their lists.

Korea DPR, Japan and Spain are the other 3 teams with more than 85% (86.67% to be more exact) local players.

At the other end, Australia were very close to 0 local players - only Jason Culina representing the A-League in the Socceroos' list.

Other teams with less than 15%: Nigeria, Cote d'Ivoire (both 6,66%), Cameroon (10%), Slovakia (10.34%), Slovenia and Ghana (both 13.33%)

Team - Local based - Total players - Percentage

England	30	30	100
Italy	29	30	96.67
Germany	26	27	96.3
Korea DPR	20	23	86.96
Japan	26	30	86.67
Spain	26	30	86.67
Greece	21	30	70
Honduras	20	30	66.67
South Africa	19	30	63.33
Mexico	16	26	61.54
Korea Republic	18	30	60
France	17	30	56.67
Netherlands	16	30	53.33
New Zealand	13	30	43.33
Portugal	12	30	40
Chile	11	30	36.67
Denmark	11	30	36.67
Switzerland	11	30	36.67
Argentina	10	30	33.33
USA	9	30	30
Algeria	8	30	26.67
Paraguay	6	30	20
Brazil	5	30	16.67
Serbia	5	30	16.67
Uruguay	4	26	15.38
Ghana	4	30	13.33
Slovenia	4	30	13.33
Slovakia	3	29	10.34
Cameroon	3	30	10
Cote d'Ivoire	2	30	6.67
Nigeria	2	30	6.67
Australia	1	30	3.33

---

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: May 2010 probable ranking (II)

Probable results computed using the Elo Ratings. See the list of results used for this ranking.

Next update: May 21st, 2010.

Probable May 2010 rank - Team - Probable May 2010 points - +/- Ranking - +/- Points

1	Brazil	1611	0	0
2	Spain	1565	0	0
3	Portugal	1249	0	0
4	Netherlands	1231	0	10
5	Italy	1184	0	0
6	Germany	1082	0	-25
7	Argentina	1076	0	-8
8	England	1068	0	0
9	Croatia	1051	0	-1
10	France	1044	0	0
11	Russia	1015	0	12
12	Egypt	967	1	0
13	Greece	964	-1	-4
14	USA	957	0	7
15	Serbia	947	1	3
16	Uruguay	899	2	-3
17	Mexico	895	0	-41
18	Chile	888	-3	-60
19	Cameroon	887	0	0
20	Australia	886	0	3
21	Nigeria	883	-1	0
22	Norway	882	0	3
23	Ukraine	875	2	20
24	Switzerland	866	2	12
25	Slovenia	860	-2	0
26	Israel	857	-2	0
27	Romania	853	1	10
28	Côte d'Ivoire	846	-1	0
29	Czech Republic	827	0	0
30	Algeria	821	1	0
31	Paraguay	820	-1	-2
32	Turkey	812	1	14
33	Ghana	800	-1	-2
34	Slovakia	777	4	35
35	Colombia	776	-1	-1
36	Denmark	767	-1	0
37	Sweden	761	0	4
38	Honduras	734	2	7
39	Bulgaria	726	0	-14
40	Costa Rica	710	2	4
41	Republic of Ireland	709	2	19
42	Scotland	699	2	15
43	Ecuador	694	-7	-69
44	Japan	682	1	8
45	Gabon	680	-4	-27
46	Latvia	652	0	0
47	Korea Republic	632	0	13
48	Venezuela	621	1	16
49	Finland	613	0	8
50	Burkina Faso	611	2	22
51	Lithuania	608	-3	-8
52	Bosnia-Herzegovina	604	-1	0
53	Peru	578	0	-1
54	Mali	575	0	0
55	Tunisia	574	0	0
56	Northern Ireland	566	1	11
57	Hungary	565	-1	-2
58	Poland	561	0	9
59	Benin	531	0	0
60	FYR Macedonia	521	0	0
60	Iran	521	0	0
62	Canada	516	1	0
63	Belgium	507	-1	-11
64	Montenegro	500	1	0
65	Bolivia	499	2	8
66	Saudi Arabia	498	0	3
67	Cyprus	486	1	-2
68	Austria	479	-4	-30
69	Bahrain	475	0	0
70	Morocco	463	0	-6
71	Zambia	456	0	4
72	El Salvador	452	-1	0
73	Uganda	440	1	3
74	Wales	436	1	7
75	Panama	434	1	13
76	Togo	433	-3	-5
77	Senegal	422	0	8
78	New Zealand	410	0	-3
79	Albania	406	1	0
80	Iraq	405	2	11
81	Jamaica	399	-2	-13
82	Belarus	397	-1	0
83	South Africa	391	7	22
84	China PR	387	1	-3
85	Mozambique	383	4	5
86	Malawi	382	-4	-12
87	Guinea	381	0	0
88	Angola	379	-3	-11
89	Moldova	378	-5	-14
90	Iceland	367	1	0
91	Haiti	362	-4	-19
92	Gambia	361	1	0
93	Uzbekistan	354	1	0
94	Oman	353	3	7
94	Trinidad and Tobago	353	-3	-14
96	Qatar	351	-1	0
97	Kuwait	350	-1	2
98	Syria	343	0	1
99	Armenia	311	0	0
100	United Arab Emirates	310	0	0
101	Libya	309	1	4
102	Congo	308	-1	0
103	Jordan	300	0	-1
104	Estonia	296	0	0
105	Korea DPR	285	1	-7
106	Thailand	276	-1	-18
107	Rwanda	269	0	0
108	Yemen	264	1	6
109	Tanzania	261	-1	2
110	Azerbaijan	259	0	2
111	Zimbabwe	258	2	10
112	Namibia	251	0	0
113	Kenya	243	1	0
114	Cape Verde Islands	241	3	5
114	Guatemala	241	1	0
116	Botswana	235	0	-2
117	Vietnam	231	1	0
118	Sudan	220	3	9
119	Antigua and Barbuda	218	0	1
120	Georgia	217	-1	0
121	Congo DR	215	-10	-38
122	Guyana	205	0	0
123	Ethiopia	200	0	-4
124	Grenada	198	0	0
125	Faroe Islands	196	0	0
126	Cuba	194	-1	-2
127	Luxembourg	193	0	0
127	Singapore	193	0	0
129	Kazakhstan	182	0	2
130	Sierra Leone	181	3	19
131	Swaziland	171	0	6
132	Fiji	167	-2	0
133	India	163	-1	-1
134	Bermuda	160	0	0
135	Barbados	155	0	-2
135	Tajikistan	155	0	-2
137	Indonesia	153	0	0
137	Suriname	153	3	6
139	Hong Kong	150	0	0
139	Turkmenistan	150	-2	-3
141	Equatorial Guinea	142	0	0
142	Maldives	129	1	0
143	Chad	128	1	0
144	Burundi	127	1	0
145	New Caledonia	126	1	0
146	Malaysia	123	1	0
147	Myanmar	122	-5	-19
148	Madagascar	121	1	6
149	Liechtenstein	117	-1	0
150	Liberia	114	2	2
151	St. Kitts and Nevis	113	0	0
152	Lesotho	109	-3	-6
153	Vanuatu	108	0	0
154	Netherlands Antilles	103	3	5
155	Eritrea	101	4	6
155	Nicaragua	101	0	0
157	Bangladesh	100	3	6
157	Malta	100	-3	-3
159	Sri Lanka	99	-3	0
160	Lebanon	98	-3	0
161	Nepal	96	0	4
162	Niger	92	-1	0
163	St. Vincent and the Grenadines	91	1	0
164	Mauritania	81	1	0
165	Pakistan	78	1	0
166	Puerto Rico	76	2	0
167	Chinese Taipei	75	-1	-3
168	Kyrgyzstan	74	-7	-18
169	Philippines	67	1	12
170	Solomon Islands	60	-1	0
171	Comoros	43	1	0
172	Mauritius	40	1	0
173	Cayman Islands	39	1	0
173	Laos	39	1	0
173	Palestine	39	1	0
173	Somalia	39	1	0
177	Samoa	38	2	0
178	Seychelles	37	-4	-2
179	Belize	36	2	2
179	Mongolia	36	1	0
181	Bahamas	34	0	0
181	Cook Islands	34	0	0
183	Dominica	33	1	0
184	Turks and Caicos Islands	32	1	0
185	Cambodia	30	-14	-24
186	Tonga	28	0	0
187	Dominican Republic	26	0	0
188	Djibouti	23	0	0
189	Afghanistan	21	4	4
189	Brunei Darussalam	21	4	4
191	Guinea-Bissau	19	-2	0
191	St. Lucia	19	-2	0
191	Tahiti	19	-2	0
194	British Virgin Islands	18	-2	0
195	Guam	17	-2	0
196	Bhutan	15	1	4
197	Macau	13	-1	-2
198	Aruba	11	-1	0
199	US Virgin Islands	5	0	0
200	Timor-Leste	4	0	0
201	Andorra	2	0	0
202	American Samoa	0	0	0
202	Anguilla	0	0	0
202	Central African Republic	0	0	0
202	Montserrat	0	0	0
202	Papua New Guinea	0	0	0
202	San Marino	0	0	0

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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.