World ranking number
This article is about the men ‘s rankings. For the women ‘s rankings, see FIFA Women ‘s World Rankings
The men ‘s FIFA World Ranking is a rank system for men ‘s national teams in association football, presently led by Belgium. [ 1 ] The teams of the men ‘s member nations of FIFA, football ‘s world governing body, are ranked based on their game results with the most successful teams being ranked highest. The rankings were introduced in December 1992, and eight teams ( Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain ) have held the clear position, of which Brazil have spent the longest ranked first.

A points system is used, with points being awarded based on the results of all FIFA-recognised broad external matches. The ranking system has been revamped on several occasions, by and large responding to criticism that the preceding calculation method did not effectively reflect the relative strengths of the home teams. Since 16 August 2018, the stream version of the rank system has adopted the Elo rat arrangement used in chess and Go .

history

In December 1992, FIFA first published a listing in rank order of its men ‘s extremity associations to provide a footing for comparison of the relative strengths of these teams. From the follow August, this list was more frequently updated, to be published most months. [ 2 ] Significant changes were implemented in January 1999 and again in July 2006, as a reaction to criticisms of the arrangement. [ 3 ] Historical records of the rankings, such as listed at FIFA.com, reflect the method acting of calculation in use at the time, as the stream method has not been applied retrospectively to rankings before July 2006. membership of FIFA has expanded from 167 to 211 since the rankings began ; 210 members are presently included in the rankings. The Cook Islands are the sole ungraded FIFA member association, having been removed from the ranking in September 2019 after not playing any fixtures in the previous four years. [ 4 ]

1993–1998 calculation method acting

The ranking formula used from August 1993 until December 1998 was very simplistic and quickly became notice for its miss of supporting factors. When the rankings were initially introduced, a team received one point for a draw or three for a victory in FIFA-recognised matches – much the same as a traditional league score system. This was a quite simplistic overture, however, and FIFA cursorily realised that there were many factors affecting international matches .

1999–2006 calculation method

In January 1999, FIFA introduced a revise system of ranking calculation, incorporating many changes in response to criticism of inappropriate rankings. For the ranking all matches, their scores and importance were all recorded, and were used in the calculation operation. only matches for the elder men ‘s national team were included. separate ranking systems were used for early example national sides such as women ‘s and junior teams, for example the FIFA Women ‘s World Rankings. The women ‘s rankings were, and inactive are, based on a procedure which is a simplified interpretation of the Football Elo Ratings. [ 5 ] The major changes were as follows :

  • the point ranking was scaled up by a factor of ten
  • the method of calculation was changed to take into account factors including:
    • the number of goals scored or conceded
    • whether the match was played at home or away
    • the importance of a match or competition
    • regional strength
  • a fixed number of points were no longer necessarily awarded for a victory or a draw
  • match losers were able to earn points

Two new awards were introduced as region of the system :
The changes made the rate system more complex, but helped improve its accuracy by making it more comprehensive .

2006–2018 calculation method

FIFA announced that the rank system would be updated following the 2006 World Cup. The evaluation period was cut from eight to four years, and a elementary method of calculation was used to determine rankings. [ 6 ] Goals scored and base or away advantage were no longer taken into report, and early aspects of the calculations, including the importance attributed to different types of match, were revised. The first determine of revised rankings and the calculation methodology were announced on 12 July 2006. This change was rooted at least in part in widespread criticism of the previous rank system. many football enthusiasts felt it was inaccurate, particularly when compared to other ranking systems and that it was not sufficiently responsive to changes in the performance of individual teams .

In September 2017, FIFA announced they were reviewing the rank system and would decide after the end of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification if any changes are to be made to improve the ranking. [ 7 ] FIFA announced on 10 June 2018 that the rank system would be updated following the 2018 World Cup finals. The calculation method acting to be adopted will be closely modelled after the Elo evaluation system and rankings of its member associations will be updated on a game-by-game basis. The slant designated for each confederation for ranking purposes will be abolished. [ 8 ] however, the new methodology does not account for home or away games and margin of the victory, as Elo rankings. [ 9 ] FIFA had intended to introduce the fresh ranking system in July 2018, but with no matches scheduled between the July and August ranking dates, delayed until August 2018. There was speculation from football journalists such as ESPN ‘s Dale Johnson that this was because projections of the new rankings had seen relatively little deepen in positions, [ 10 ] with Germany – who had been eliminated in the first turn of the World Cup – remaining as the clear ranked team. [ 11 ] FIFA had primitively planned to use existing earth ranking points from June 2018 as the start prize, but when the August rankings appeared, the start points had been changed to an adequate distribution of points between 1600 ( Germany, as the previously top ranked team ) and 868 ( Anguilla, Bahamas, Eritrea, Somalia, Tonga and Turks and Caicos Islands, which had 0 points in June ), according to the recipe :

P seeding = 1600 − ( R − 1 ) × 4 { \displaystyle P_ { \text { seeding } } =1600- ( R-1 ) \times 4 }{\displaystyle P_{\text{seeding}}=1600-(R-1)\times 4}

where R is the rank in June 2018. When two or more teams had equal ranks, the take after team received the adjacent immediate rank possible, e.g. if two teams had R=11, the follow team had R=12, not 13. then the fink changes according to the games played after previous publish were calculated. [ 12 ] [ 13 ] This produced a more dramatically interpolate ranking mesa, with Germany falling to 15th and 2018 World Cup champions France moving to the top of the rate. [ 13 ]

2021 change

Starting with the April 2021 rankings, the teams ‘ points are now calculated to two decimal points, rather of being rounded to the nearest integer. [ 14 ]

man ‘s membership leaders

FIFA World Men’s Ranking Leaders
When the system was introduced, Germany debuted as the top-ranked team following their carry period of authority in which they had reached the three previous FIFA World Cup finals, winning one of them. Brazil took the lead in the run improving to the 1994 FIFA World Cup after winning eight and losing only one of nine qualification matches, while on the way scoring twenty goals and conceding just four. Italy then led for a short clock time on the back of their own equally successful World Cup qualifying campaign, after which the top set was re-claimed by Germany. Brazil ‘s success in their drawn-out qualifying campaign returned them to the leave for a brief period. Germany led again during the 1994 World Cup, until Brazil ‘s victory in that rival gave them a large lead that would stand up for closely seven years, until they were surpassed by a strong France team that captured both the 1998 FIFA World Cup and the 2000 european Football Championship. success at the 2002 FIFA World Cup restored Brazil to the top place, where they remained until February 2007, when Italy returned to the top for the inaugural time since 1993 following their 2006 FIFA World Cup win in Germany. Just one month later, Argentina replaced them, reaching the top for the first time, but Italy regained its home in April. After winning the Copa América 2007 in July, Brazil returned to the top, but were replaced by Italy in September and then Argentina in October. In July 2008, Spain took over the lead for the beginning time, having won UEFA Euro 2008. Brazil began a sixth stretch at the clear of the rankings in July 2009 after winning the 2009 Confederations Cup, and Spain regained the title in November 2009 after winning every match in qualification for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. In April 2010, Brazil returned to the exceed of the table. After winning the 2010 World Cup, Spain regained the top position and held it until August 2011, when the Netherlands reached the clear position for the first base time, [ 15 ] only to relinquish it the following calendar month. In July 2014, Germany took over the lead once again, having won the 2014 FIFA World Cup. In July 2015, Argentina reached the top point for the first meter since 2008, after reaching both the 2014 FIFA World Cup Final, equally well as the 2015 Copa America Final. In November 2015, Belgium became the drawing card in the FIFA rankings for the beginning meter, after topping their euro 2016 qualifying group. Belgium led the rankings until April 2016, when Argentina returned to the clear. On 6 April 2017, Brazil returned to the No. 1 spot for the first fourth dimension since barely before the 2010 World Cup, [ 16 ] but Germany regained the lead spot in July after winning the Confederations Cup. [ 17 ] In the summer of 2018, FIFA updated their rate arrangement by adopting the Elo rat system. The beginning rank list with this system, in August 2018, saw France retake the top spot for the first time after about 16 years, having won the 2018 FIFA World Cup. One month late, for the first fourth dimension, two teams were joint leaders as Belgium reached the same rank as France. [ 18 ] This lasted only one month as Belgium regained sole possession of the exceed spot in September 2018 and, as of November 2021, retains it .

Uses of the rankings

The rankings are used by FIFA to rank the progress and current ability of the national football teams of its extremity nations, and claims that they create “ a dependable measure for comparing national A-teams ”. [ 2 ] They are used as contribution of the calculation, or the stallion grounds to seed competitions. In the 2010 FIFA World Cup reservation tournament, the rankings were used to seeded player the groups in the competitions involving CONCACAF members ( using the May rankings ), CAF ( with the July set of data ), and UEFA, using the specially postponed November 2007 ranking positions. The October 2009 rank was used to determine the seeds for the 2010 FIFA World Cup concluding pull. [ 19 ] The March 2011 ranking was used to seed the disembowel for the 2012 CAF Men ‘s Pre-Olympic Tournament second qualifying circle. [ 20 ] The rankings are besides used to determine the winners of the two annual awards national teams receive on the basis of their performance in the rankings. The ( English ) Football Association uses the median of the last 24 months of rankings as one of the criterion for actor work permits. [ 21 ]

Read more: FIFA 21 Pro Clubs

especial releases

To determine the seed of teams in certain instances like FIFA World Cup qualification, FIFA occasionally releases a number of particular rankings for a particular alliance to determine the seed of the teams. For case, the seed for the third gear round draw for AFC qualifiers was based on a special let go of of the FIFA World Rankings for asian teams on 18 June 2021. [ 22 ]

criticism

Since their presentation in 1992, the FIFA World Rankings have been the subject of much argue, particularly regarding the calculation routine and the resulting disparity between generally perceived quality and world ranking of some teams. The sensed flaws in the FIFA system have led to the creation of a act of option rankings from football statisticians. [ 23 ] The initial system was very simpleton, with no weighting for the quality of opponent or importance of a match. This saw Norway reach second in October 1993 and July–August 1995, a rank that was criticised at the time. [ 23 ] The rankings were adapted in 1999 to include weightings based on the importance of the equal and the strength of the adversary. A win over a weak opponent resulted in fewer points being awarded than a win over a much stronger one. far adaptations in 2006 were made to reduce the count of years ‘ results considered from 8 to 4, [ 23 ] [ 24 ] with greater reliance on matches from within the former 12 months. inactive, criticisms of the rankings remained, with particular anomalies being noted including : the United States rise to fourthly in 2006, to the storm of evening their own players ; [ 25 ] Israel ‘s climb to 15th in November 2008, which surprised the Israeli wardrobe ; [ 26 ] [ 27 ] [ 28 ] and Belgium ‘s crying of world number 1 in November 2015, even though Belgium had merely played in one tournament final phase in the by 13 years. [ 29 ] further criticisms of the 2006-2018 formula included the inability of hosts of major tournaments to retain a high locate in the rankings, as the team participated in merely lower-value friendly matches due to their automatic qualification for the tournament. For model, 2014 FIFA World Cup hosts Brazil fell to a record low rank of 22nd in the earth before that tournament, [ 30 ] [ 31 ] at which they then finished fourth. 2018 FIFA World Cup hosts Russia had the lowest rank ( 70th ) at the tournament, where they reached the quarter-finals before bowing out to eventual finalists Croatia on penalties. In the 2010s, teams realised the rate system could be ‘gamed ‘, specifically by avoiding playing non-competitive matches, particularly against weaker opponents. [ 32 ] This was because the low burden of friendlies meant that even victories could reduce a team ‘s average score : in other words, a team could win a match and lose points. Before the seed of the 2018 World Cup preliminary draw, Romania flush appointed a ranking adviser, playing only one friendly in the class before the draw. [ 33 ] [ 34 ] [ 35 ] Similar accusations had been made against Switzerland, who were a seed team at the 2014 FIFA World Cup having played only three friendly matches in the previous year, [ 32 ] and Poland before the 2018 FIFA World Cup. [ 36 ] The use of regional strength multiplier in the rate formula before 2018 was besides accused of further reinforce and perpetuating the diagonal for and against certain regions. [ citation needed ]

current calculation method acting

On 10 June 2018, the newly ranking system was approved by the FIFA Council. It is based on the Elo rating system and after each plot points will be added to or subtracted from a team ‘s rate according to the recipe :

P = P before + I ( W − W einsteinium ) { \displaystyle P=P_ { \text { before } } +I ( W-W_ { e } ) }{\displaystyle P=P_{\text{before}}+I(W-W_{e})}

where :

  • Pbefore – the team’s number of points before the game
  • I – the importance coefficient:
    • 05 – friendlies played outside the International Match Calendar windows
    • 10 – friendlies played within the International Match Calendar windows
    • 15 – Nations League matches (group stage)
    • 25 – Nations League matches (play-offs and finals), Confederations’ final competitions qualifiers, FIFA World Cup qualifiers
    • 35 – Confederations’ final competitions matches (before quarter-finals)
    • 40 – Confederations’ final competitions matches (quarter-finals and later)
    • 50 – FIFA World Cup matches (before quarter-finals)
    • 60 – FIFA World Cup matches (quarter-finals and later)
  • W – the result of the game:
    • 0 – loss after regular or extra time
    • 0.5 – draw or loss in a penalty shootout
    • 0.75 – win in a penalty shootout
    • 1 – win after regular or extra time.
If a game ends with a winner, but still requires a penalty shoot-out (PSO) (i.e. in the second game of a two-legged tie), it is considered as a regular game and the PSO is disregarded.
  • We – the expected result of the game:
W e = 1 10 − five hundred gas constant 600 + 1 { \displaystyle W_ { e } = { \frac { 1 } { 10^ { – { \frac { dr } { 600 } } } +1 } } }{\displaystyle W_{e}={\frac {1}{10^{-{\frac {dr}{600}}}+1}}}
where dr is the difference between two teams’ ratings before the game.

damaging points in smasher stages of final competitions will not affect teams ‘ ratings. [ 12 ]

Awards

Each class FIFA hands out two awards to its member nations, based on their performance in the rankings. They are :

team of the year

team of the class is awarded to the team that finishes top of the FIFA World Ranking. Belgium are the most holocene team of the class for the fourth time in the 28-year history of the rankings. Brazil hold the records for most back-to-back wins ( seven, between 1994 and 2000 ) and most wins overall ( twelve ). The table below shows the three best teams of each year. [ 37 ]

Performances by countries

Team First place Second place Third place
 Brazil 12 (1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006) 5 (2007, 2009, 2016, 2017, 2021) 5 (1993, 2001, 2018, 2019, 2020)
 Spain 6 (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013) 1 (1994) 3 (2002, 2003, 2015)
 Belgium 5 (2015, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021) 0 0
 Germany 3 (1993, 2014, 2017) 6 (1995, 1996, 1997, 2008, 2012, 2013) 4 (1998, 2010, 2011, 2016)
 Argentina 2 (2007, 2016) 3 (2001, 2014, 2015) 5 (2000, 2004, 2006, 2012, 2013)
 France 1 (2001) 8 (1998, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2018, 2019, 2020) 3 (1996, 1999, 2021)
 Netherlands 0 2 (2010, 2011) 3 (2005, 2008, 2009)
 Italy 0 2 (1993, 2006) 2 (1995, 2007)
 Czech Republic 0 2 (1999, 2005) 1 (1997)
 Sweden 0 0 1 (1994)
 Colombia 0 0 1 (2014)
 Portugal 0 0 1 (2017)

Best mover of the year

The Best mover of the year was awarded to the team who made the best progress up the rankings over the course of the class. In the FIFA rankings, this is not just the team that has risen the most places, but a calculation is performed in rate to account for the fact that it becomes increasingly harder to earn more points the higher up the rankings a team is. [ 2 ] The calculation used is the number of points the team has at the end of the class ( z ) multiplied by the count of points it earned during the class ( y ). The team with the highest index on this calculation received the prize. The mesa below shows the peak three best movers from each year. [ 38 ] [ 39 ] The award has not been an official part of the awards since 2006 .
While an official prize has not been made for movements since 2006, FIFA has released a tilt of the ‘Best Movers ‘ in the rankings since 2007. [ 40 ] An model of the informal ongoing “ Mover of the class ” award is the recognition made by FIFA to Colombia in 2012 in an official weight-lift free. [ 41 ] however, the calculation methodology had changed to the dispute in ranking points over the course of the class ( rather than the methodology used in the official award from 1993 to 2006 ). The results for latter years are based on a alike methodology .

Ranking schedule

Rankings are published monthly, normally on a Thursday. The deadline for the matches to be considered is normally the Thursday before the unblock date, but after major tournaments, all games up to the final examination are included. [ 50 ] [ failed verification ]

2022 rankings schedule
Release date[51]
10 February
31 March
23 June

As of 17 December 2021, release dates for the second base half of 2022 are not so far announced .

See besides

References