Top 20 national football teams

[Verbose]

There's a new list.

1. Brazil, 839 (1)
2. Netherlands, 785 (3)
3. Argentina, 778 (2)
4. Czech Republic, 777 (4)
5. Mexico, 771 (5)
6. France, 770 (9)
7. USA, 768 (6)
8. Spain, 750 (8)
9. Portugal, 743 (9)
10. Sweden, 740 (15)

11. England, 738 (7)
12. Turkey, 731 (12)
13. Italy, 725 (13)
14. Denmark, 721 (18)
15. Germany, 718 (11)
16. Japan, 716 (17)
17. Poland, 705 (22)
18. Iran, 702 (15)
19. Costa Rica, 700 (21)
20. Greece, 699 (18)

I seem to recall the US ranking has already provoked comment around here. What about Mexico? And Costa Rica in nr 19?
And the ranking of the other teams. This is obviously based on who's done well recently. How accurate is it?
I looks like a good gauge of exactly competitive is international football is these days. England has a bad batch and plummets (relatively speaking). Have Italy and Germany really not done better than their ranking here suggests? France hasn't really convinced for quite some time but this hasn't really hurt them (ranking -wise)?

I only found top 20. Anybody got the entire list? And does has someone more info on how this is computed?

 

[nerovats]

I always found the ranking questionable.
Brazil 1, true
the Netherlands 2nd no way might put it as 5th now.
Mexico 5th, not in top 10
USA 7, not in top 10
France 6, might put it on 10.
England, Germany and Italy should be in the top 10.
Greece as EC on 20?

 

[blindside]

Why aren't teams like Germany or Italy further up.

 

[Marla_Singer]

We simply cannot rank teams which never compete between each other !

It's not because Brazil beat Tunisia 1-0 and then that Morocco beat Tunisia 3-0 that it means Morocco is better than Brazil. Furthermore, the FIFA ranking has usually a bias towards teams playing many games compared to those playing less games. Concacaf teams play about 20 games a year when UEFA teams play more something like 10 games a year.

Furthermore, isn't anyone surprised to see no African teams in this Top 20 ? Is it that sure Cameroon, Morocco or Tunisia would lose against Costa Rica, Mexico or the US ?

I only found top 20. Anybody got the entire list? And does has someone more info on how this is computed?

Here's the full FIFA ranking : http://www.fifa.com/en/mens/statistics/index/0,2548,All-Sep-2005,00.html

 

[PrinceOfLeigh]

England, Germany and Italy should be in the top 10.

I'd say England's was fair, if not we should be lower. On paper we are one of the top 3 teams in the world. In reality, for the most part, we suck.

 

[Jorge]

They should implement a rating system similar to the one in chess (ELO).

 

[Verbose]

Furthermore, isn't anyone surprised to see no African teams in this Top 20 ? Is it that sure Cameroon, Morocco or Tunisia would lose against Costa Rica, Mexico or the US ?

Here's the full FIFA ranking : http://www.fifa.com/en/mens/statistics/index/0,2548,All-Sep-2005,00.html

Thanks!

And now that you mention it, yes! Not even the African champions made top 20?
At least one African team usually does rather well in the WC.

 

[Hitro]

They should implement a rating system similar to the one in chess (ELO).

We have a ranking system. It's called World Cup.

 

[Gr3yL3gion]

Yay, Netherlands is 2nd.

 

[PrinceOfLeigh]

We have a ranking system. It's called World Cup.

Which would currently have Germany as the 2nd best team in the world?

 

[Marla_Singer]

Which would currently have Germany as the 2nd best team in the world?

At least it's the result of direct confrontations. It's not about comparing Mexico beating Trinity&Tobago and Spain beating Andorra.

I don't even know how we can objectively defend the idea of a ranking. If you would really want an objective ranking, then you would have to create a world league where all 205 FIFA members would meet each other twice, home and away.

 

[Hitro]

At least it's the result of direct confrontations. It's not about comparing Mexico beating Trinity&Tobago and Spain beating Andorra.

I don't even know how we can objectively defend the idea of a ranking. If you would really want an objective ranking, then you would have to create a world league where all 205 FIFA members would meet each other twice, home and away.

Yes, exactly.

 

[luiz]

This ranking looks like crap to me.
Of course the WC is not a perfect indicator, but it sure beats this ranking.

 

[downtown]

I dont get this. I think the USA is better than mexico...but Italy, Germany...England...they would all kill us by maybe 3 goals.

 

[Dell19]

The other thing that helps the USA and Mexico is that they have virtually guarenteed world cup slots whereas a lot of the European sides in that top 20 still have a fight to even qualify.

2. Netherlands, 785 (3) - Should qualify at the expense of the fourth placed team
4. Czech Republic, 777 (4) - Look like having to play a playoff
6. France, 770 (9) - Looking more likely to qualify now
8. Spain, 750 (8) - Might not even qualify, should have to play a qualifier
10. Sweden, 740 (15) - If they lose to Croatia they will have to play a qualifier
11. England, 738 (7) - May face a qualifier if they don't win their last two games
12. Turkey, 731 (12)
14. Denmark, 721 (18)
20. Greece, 699 (18) - All in the same group and fighting out for a qualification place behind Ukraine
17. Poland, 705 (22) - If they lose to England then they will have to play a qualifier

A couple of teams will qualify as the the best runner ups though.

 

[antonio]

I like the quote from Fabio Cappelo who said some thing like ''it's no surprise that Mexico are 4th in the world when they only ever play the Cayman islands and the Seashells''. I cant believe Italy is so low. IMO They are the second best team in the world when it comes to strength and depth. They just don't always show it. I'm surprised Iran are there yet there is no Japan or South Korea. The ranking system is not to be taken seriously though.

 

[Loppan Torkel]

I'm surprised Iran are there yet there is no Japan or South Korea. The ranking system is not to be taken seriously though.

16. Japan, 716 (17)

I don't think the ranking seems that wrong. Both Mexico and the US are good teams and at least Mexico can go far in the WC, if they have the necessary luck... just like Greece did in EC. But I agree that Costa Rica seems too high placed and perhaps Iran and Poland too. The African teams I have little knowledge of, since they are so uneven - one year they play great football, the next they don't manage to qualify...
One team I do miss in the top 20 is Ukraine, given that took the topspot in arguably the toughest WCgroup. And Croatia or Romania should perhaps be in the top 20 also.

 

[Shabbaman]

I thought we had this discussion so many times that we had agreed to shoot anyone who brought it up again.

They should implement a rating system similar to the one in chess (ELO).

It's there. Bookmarked and ready to present each time this discussion comes up.

We have a ranking system. It's called World Cup.

I garee

 

[Dell19]

I don't think the ranking seems that wrong. Both Mexico and the US are good teams and at least Mexico can go far in the WC, if they have the necessary luck... .

Good teams would be ranked around 15th-40th, not 5th and 7th where you would expect teams with a serious chance of winning the WC.

 

[Marla_Singer]

I don't think the ranking seems that wrong. Both Mexico and the US are good teams and at least Mexico can go far in the WC, if they have the necessary luck... just like Greece did in EC. But I agree that Costa Rica seems too high placed and perhaps Iran and Poland too.

Let's get over it, it's a general consensus to say Concacaf teams are over-estimated and UEFA or CAF teams are under-estimated.

The African teams I have little knowledge of, since they are so uneven - one year they play great football, the next they don't manage to qualify...

Same goes in Europe. The Netherlands, Sweden, France, etc... The thing is simply that it's hard to qualify from those confederations. Many teams which won't qualify in Europe or Africa could have easily got through their groups if they had qualify.

One team I do miss in the top 20 is Ukraine, given that took the topspot in arguably the toughest WCgroup. And Croatia or Romania should perhaps be in the top 20 also.

FIFA ranking doesn't take into account the difficulty of qualifying groups. Just the scores.