Just for fun, I went at looked at the most recent rankings on FIFA

Some rankings that stood out:

Netherlands, only #15

Even USA and Greece are ranked above Netherlands!

France are ranked even lower, at #17

Swiss are #6, above Italy at #9 and England at #10

Some rankings which seem surprisingly low;

Korea 57 . . . Iran 43 . . . Nigeria 44

Australia 62 . . . . Japan 46 . . . Cameroon at 56

Some who didn't make it to the WC, and seem lower ranked than you might expect:

Norway 55 . . . Poland 69

Paraguay 50 . . . Austria 42

Palestine is in the top 100, having risen from #165

China not in the top 100. Neither is Canada.

So both those teams are currently ranked lower than Palestine

I realize World Cup berths are not predicated on FIFA rankings, but even so.... is interesting to compare. Go Bosnia!

FIFA's official rankings are always a big bone of contention. I don't think anyone really knows how they work them out!

I plum forgot to mention the FIFA link with ratings:

http://www.fifa.com/worldranking/rankingtable/index.html

p.s. The highest ranking team not in the WC is Denmark, at 23

FIFA's official rankings are always a big bone of contention. I don't think anyone really knows how they work them out!

FIFA rankings are rubbish and what else would you expect.

FIFA's rankings are ranked in order of the size of the bung Sepp and his cronies receive

Many people prefer the independently produced ELO rating system.

http://www.eloratings.net/

You can see in detail the mechanics of their ratings.

Many people prefer the independently produced ELO rating system.

http://www.eloratings.net/

You can see in detail the mechanics of their ratings.

Excellent stuff. Never seen it before and their rankings do seem much closer to reality.

I noticed the Vatican scored one goal. Hope it wasn't another Hand of God.

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

seem lower ranked than you might expect: Austria 42

No, would not expect my fellow country man better.

Many people prefer the independently produced ELO rating system.

http://www.eloratings.net/

You can see in detail the mechanics of their ratings.

That seems a more accurate source, over all ! Austria 46

Thailand 135 or 142, that is a bit low!