July 2007 FIFA World Rankings

July 18th, 2007 | by: WC Bob |

While the teams in Europe were rubbing suntan lotion on each other during the summer break, the top two teams in South America were working overtime to impress the always hard to figure out FIFA computers. It worked. Fresh off their Copa America championship, Brazil is the new number one team in the world. Argentina is now second. Italy, the team that won that little World Cup competition a year ago and who was number one last month, fell to number three. I bet its players now wish they were playing last month instead of hitting the nightclubs every night. Or maybe not. There is no change at the bottom of the rankings. American Samoa is still the worst team in the universe. They like it that way.

Rank Team June Rank Change
1. Brazil 3 +1
2. Argentina 5 +3
3. Italy 1 -2
4. France 2 -2
5. Germany 4 -1
6. Netherlands 9 +3
7. Croatia 11 +4
8. Portugal 6 -2
9. Spain 7 -2
10. Mexico 26 +16
11. Czech Republic 10 -1
12. England 8 -4
13. Romania 12 -1
14. USA 16 +2
15. Cameroon 14 -1
16. Greece 15 -1
17. Serbia 22 +5
17. Ukraine 13 -4
19. Uruguay 30 +11
20. Sweden 17 -3

Complete Rankings

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http://www.tugasblog.com Luis

Ok I give up. Somebody explain to me why Croatia went up 4 spots? And why Netherlands went up two? Did either of these teams have matches since last month?
AJ

Luis, not to mention Serbia?!?!
http://brazil.worldcupblog.org/ Euler

Cool… natural order of things has been restored… lol!
OGrandeTrinco

I believe these teams were randomly promoted to make the ranking news-worthy. Those crazy FIFA’ians.

In all serousness, my only guess from a mathematical point of view would be the FIFA formulas uses a trailing average system with data points being periods of time not games. So while they didn’t play any games, perhaps some bad games from long time ago were dropped.
http://www.theoffside.com Bob

After doing a bit of research I discovered that the FIFA system starts discounting World Cup performance the longer out from the tournament you are. Teams like Croatia and Serbia went up because their poor 2006 WC doesn’t count as much against them.

I think.
max

Romania over Uruguay, Sweden, USA???? What a joke
Pedro P

Cabo Verde ahead of Belgium… :-) Lindo!!!
Ali

Top of the World.. Again..
This is where we should be.. always..
romario

yes, Brasil at the top, where we belong…
http://www.tugasblog.com Luis

Hey – how come there’s no #69? I smell a rat.
Vicky

I’m glad to see Mexico in the top ten spot, they deserve it. They don’t always play it’s best, but they have amazing players that play not only in mexico but in europe too. They came in 3rd place in Copa America, right after Brasil and Argentina, and they came in Second place in Gold Cup (which they shoul’ve won!) meanwhile the USA is way below them on the list, no matter if they won the gold cup, this team got trounced in the Copa America when they played with some of the Best teams, while Mex held it’s own, so who’s really better Donovan? (as@#$$!)
Joe

Vicky, the truth is that while the United States can definitevly beat Mexico, Mexico is still overall the better team. They’re better able to contend with European and South American giants than the USMNT.
Anthony

Fifa discounts points over a period of 7 years. Recent wins are worth more than old wins. World Cup wins are worth more than qualifiers and friendly games. Away wins are worth more than home wins. The list just goes on and on but it all makes sense.

Example, Euro2000 has lost all value in points as of this month. That’s because 7 years have passed. You can see that top performers at Euro2000 lost lots of points this month. Like Italy and France being finalists at Euro2000 now lost those points. Croatia did not play at Euro2000 so they did not lose any points. It all makes sense and it’s all detailed on Fifa.com

Go Croatia!!!!!!!
Anthony

Sorry, this was the old system. It’s now revised to 4 years but the rules are still quite similar. I’m sure it’s not perfect but it’s pretty close!
George

honestly though, america shouldnt be in top 30. I keep watching america over and over, gold cup, copa america. america cant do squat they are so bad its not even funny. it seems like a miracle if someone can send through a good lob. really quite pathetic if you ask me.
prof

Argentina 2nd? SERIOUSLY? that one bothers me.

So does Netherlands at 6.
Who likes the Yanks?

I would like to comment on Max’s comment.

Romania over Uruguay, Sweden, USA???? What a joke

The sentence should be rephrased.

Romania over Uruguay, Sweden.
USA? What a joke!