FIFA world rankings - observations

[boomerangutang]

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!

[Jonathan Fairfield]

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

[boomerangutang]

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

[jellydog]

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.

[mrbojangles]

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

[RickBradford]

Many people prefer the independently produced ELO rating system.

http://www.eloratings.net/

You can see in detail the mechanics of their ratings.

[bigbamboo]

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.

[ALFREDO]

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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!