April 2010 FIFA Rankings

April 30th, 2010 | by: chris |

fifa_logo We should’ve learned by now. It’s really our own fault. Yet it’s hard to click on the monthly FIFA standings and frantically look around like someone’s playing a joke. Which would explain why Sepp Blatter is sitting over there in a Richard Nixon mask. (How’d he get in here?)

Three teams in the top fifteen aren’t even going to the World Cup, including Croatia, one of the great disappointments, at ninth. Odd, surely. Brazil overtook Spain in first without having played a game – a greater degree of odd.

However, just how they’re getting away with Portugal at third…well no one really knows.

Thankfully, FIFA does offer us an explanation:

This means that most of the changes in this edition of the ranking are due to the devaluation of past results. Some teams have actually gained points due to the fact that the devaluation of poor results has led to a greater weighting of successful matches.

An explanation, but not necessarily the one we wanted.

wcapril

FIFA: Keeping football dysfunctional since 1904.™

Where do FIFA rankings some from?

International Football News – World Cup Blog RSS Feed

http://denmark.worldcupblog.org Cerberus

Some teams have actually gained points due to the fact that the devaluation of poor results has led to a greater weighting of successful matches.

Is there a way this doesn’t mean, “We’ve stacked the deck to make sure the ‘big boys’ stay on top even if they start sucking for long stretches of time.” Cause I’m not entirely sure I see it if that’s the case.
SP

sure, their ranking system is flawed, but everyone knows how it works by now. its a collection of matches over several years. if you dont like it, fine, don’t pay attention to it. i rarely do. but to complain about it almost every month and be surprised as if this is something new is more annoying than the actual rankings are.
ahmad

even though i’m a portugal fan, but i find this rating aggravating…
BC

Just to play devil´s advocate, why would FIFA tamper with the rankings right now? It makes no difference for anything since there is no draws or seeding coming up. Having a country be #7 ou #2 or #52 does not change a single past result nor is it likely to influence a future result. The rankings will change soon enough , but believe me what will matter will be the world cup, not how the rankings look after that.

About past results being devaluated, it can make sense, some older results always will need to be dropped to make sense for new ones. And the process of the rankings is not a secret agreement, there are formulas which are transparent. Anyway, not that it matters generally do I think americans value rankings and statistics far more than most europeans seem to, I suspect it is a fundamental thing on how we enjoy sports.
BC

ah, a useful site, if you wonder about ranking changes, http://www.football-rankings.info/

( and while I don´t think FIFA would have any interest in fiddling with rankings, it is good to know there are fans outside calculating them on their own, just to make sure they are according to the rules)
gemma

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The ratings are so silly sometimes! They should implement some kind of community rating system where the entire FIFA fanbase can vote where teams should be at – although that would lead to tampering I suppose.