All downhill from here...
14 Randomly Chosen Countries And The Point At Which The Reached Their Peak In The FIFA World Rankings
1. Belarus (57th from June to September 2008 - currently 84th)
2. Cameroon (11th from November 2006 to January 2007 - currently 14th)
3. Canada (40th in December 1996 and January 1997 - currently 90th)
4. Costa Rica (17th at various points between May 2003 and January 2004 - currently 53rd)
5. Finland (33rd in March 2007 - currently 55th)
6. India (94th in February and March 1996 - currently 143rd)
7. Japan (9th in February and March 1998 - currently 35th)
8. Paraguay (8th in March and July 2001 - currently 17th)
9. Poland (16th in September 2007 - currently 34th)
10. Romania (3rd in September 1997 - currently 21st)
11. San Marino (118th in September 1993 - currently 201st)
12. South Africa (16th in August 1996 - currently 76th)
13. Tunisia (19th in February 1998 - currently 46th)
14. Turkey (5th in June 2004 - currently 10th)
Showing posts with label World Rankings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label World Rankings. Show all posts
Friday, 2 January 2009
Sunday, 21 December 2008
The 12 Graphs of Christmas: Day 9
# "On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me...
...A graph showing Spain's position in the FIFA World Rankings between January 2007 and the present day." #
...A graph showing Spain's position in the FIFA World Rankings between January 2007 and the present day." #
Wednesday, 2 July 2008
Rank out of order
FIFA have just published their latest World Ranking table and one thing is immediately obvious - the effect of Euro 2008 and some of the recent World Cup qualifiers has given the global pecking order a major shake up.
To begin with, European champions Spain (sorry, that still makes us laugh) are the new leaders following last weekend's win in the Final over Germany. They were third last month, but now take top spot from Argentina who drop to SIXTH following two draws in the recent South American qualifiers for South Africa 2010 (more of which follows soon).
Italy move up one place to second, deposing Brazil who drop to fourth (they picked up only one point out of the six available in their recent pair of World Cup matches) and Euro 2008 runners-up Germany climb two places to third.
Of the other teams that featured prominently in Euro 2008, the Netherlands leap from 10th place to 5th, Croatia jump eight places to 7th and Russia surge their way up from 24th to 11th. Turkey are also big winners in the July 2008 rankings, moving up from 20th to 14th.
Naturally enough, those teams who failed to impress (and we're looking at you, France, the Czech Republic and Greece) all fell further down the pecking order. Greece, European champions in 2004, suffered particularly badly after their First Round exit in 2008, falling ten places to 18th.
But for a team that wasn't even involved in Euro 2008, it's England that's stolen all the headlines. They're now ranked 15TH having played only friendlies since November 2007 - a drop of six places. That puts them just one place above Scotland, who move up a position, and just five above Ghana.
A special mention this month, though, goes to Suriname, the small South American country who rose 58 places to 87th in this month's FIFA World Rankings. A recent win in both legs of their recent World Cup qualifier over Guyana means Suriname (population: 470,000) are now ranked just four places below China (population: 1.3 billion).
Fabio Capello, you've seen how it's done...
To begin with, European champions Spain (sorry, that still makes us laugh) are the new leaders following last weekend's win in the Final over Germany. They were third last month, but now take top spot from Argentina who drop to SIXTH following two draws in the recent South American qualifiers for South Africa 2010 (more of which follows soon).
Italy move up one place to second, deposing Brazil who drop to fourth (they picked up only one point out of the six available in their recent pair of World Cup matches) and Euro 2008 runners-up Germany climb two places to third.
Of the other teams that featured prominently in Euro 2008, the Netherlands leap from 10th place to 5th, Croatia jump eight places to 7th and Russia surge their way up from 24th to 11th. Turkey are also big winners in the July 2008 rankings, moving up from 20th to 14th.
Naturally enough, those teams who failed to impress (and we're looking at you, France, the Czech Republic and Greece) all fell further down the pecking order. Greece, European champions in 2004, suffered particularly badly after their First Round exit in 2008, falling ten places to 18th.
But for a team that wasn't even involved in Euro 2008, it's England that's stolen all the headlines. They're now ranked 15TH having played only friendlies since November 2007 - a drop of six places. That puts them just one place above Scotland, who move up a position, and just five above Ghana.
A special mention this month, though, goes to Suriname, the small South American country who rose 58 places to 87th in this month's FIFA World Rankings. A recent win in both legs of their recent World Cup qualifier over Guyana means Suriname (population: 470,000) are now ranked just four places below China (population: 1.3 billion).
Fabio Capello, you've seen how it's done...
Wednesday, 13 September 2006
You cant beat the real thing
So the 'sugar free' FIFA\Coca-Cola rankings have been released again, and since they have reworked the scoring system, I for one, cant really argue with the current top 10.
As of 13 Sep 2006:
1 Brazil
2 France
3 Argentina
4 England
5 Italy
6 Netherlands
7 Czech Republic
8 Germany
9 Portugal
10 Spain
OK, maybe England may appear a little high and Germany a little low, but overall the top ten teams are the BEST ten teams in the world, in my opinion.
Debate over the final order will always reign, and to say 'Italy are the World Champions so they should be top' would be a little niave and simplistic in my book.
Previous FIFA rankings have been the height of controversy mainly due to the continued Top Ten appearances of Mexico and USA - both were in the Top FIVE at one point.
Then one day, Sepp Blatter and his wife, Fanny, "woke up" and realised that beating the likes of El Salvador and Haiti isnt really a great yardstick for calculating how good a team really is.
In this 'New Improved' recipe, both Mexico and USA are out of the Top Ten. In fact, the US are out of the Top Twenty and are now ranked 29th. Mexico's fall from grace wasnt as severe, sitting in a respectable 17th.
For the record, Scotland have climbed 6 places this month to 34, Wales slide 6 to 62, the Republic of Ireland fall 5 places to 43 and thanks to their Spanish victory, Northern Ireland climb a massive 14 places to 58.
For the complete list, click here
As of 13 Sep 2006:
1 Brazil
2 France
3 Argentina
4 England
5 Italy
6 Netherlands
7 Czech Republic
8 Germany
9 Portugal
10 Spain
OK, maybe England may appear a little high and Germany a little low, but overall the top ten teams are the BEST ten teams in the world, in my opinion.
Debate over the final order will always reign, and to say 'Italy are the World Champions so they should be top' would be a little niave and simplistic in my book.
Previous FIFA rankings have been the height of controversy mainly due to the continued Top Ten appearances of Mexico and USA - both were in the Top FIVE at one point.
Then one day, Sepp Blatter and his wife, Fanny, "woke up" and realised that beating the likes of El Salvador and Haiti isnt really a great yardstick for calculating how good a team really is.
In this 'New Improved' recipe, both Mexico and USA are out of the Top Ten. In fact, the US are out of the Top Twenty and are now ranked 29th. Mexico's fall from grace wasnt as severe, sitting in a respectable 17th.
For the record, Scotland have climbed 6 places this month to 34, Wales slide 6 to 62, the Republic of Ireland fall 5 places to 43 and thanks to their Spanish victory, Northern Ireland climb a massive 14 places to 58.
For the complete list, click here
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