Ever wondered how World Governing Body FIFA comes up with rankings for its member nations?
FIFA Council, the World Governing Body’s top decision making organ, ratified a new ranking system in August 2021.
The new system adds or subtracts points for individual matches to/from a team’s existing point total.
Points added or subtracted are determined by among other factors, the strength of the two opponents.
A win against a nation ranked higher, therefore, will earn more points than one against a nation ranked lower.
Less importance is also given to friendly matches while more importance is given to qualification matches.
For instance, a friendly match sanctioned by FIFA but played outside the FIFA International Window will attract a co-efficient of five points in the formula while a World Cup knockout stage match attracts a coefficient of 60 points.
The World Cup, in the new system, rakes in more points, especially when a country goes past the group stages.
The General Formula for calculating how a country shall be ranked is as follows:
Also Read: Ademola Lookman and Four Others Who Played for Two Different Countries
P = Pbefore + I * (W – We)
Pbefore - Points before the match
I – Match Importance. (Ranges between 5 points for friendly matches outside the FIFA Calendar to 60 Points for World Cup knockout stage matches)
W: result of the match (1 = win; 0.5 = draw; 0 = defeat)
We: expected result of the match [Calculated as - 1 / (10(-dr/600) + 1)]
dr = difference in ratings of the two playing teams, i.e. dr = [Pbefore of Team A – Pbefore of Team B]
Also Read: Sadio Mane to Have a Stadium Named After Him
Belgium has maintained first place since October 2018. Second place, in the rankings released on February 10, 2022, is Brazil, while World Champions France take up third place.
Back home, Senegal remains the best-ranked nation in Africa. They are ranked 18th worldwide. Morocco, Nigeria, Egypt and Tunisia complete the top five, in that order.
Kenya’s Harambee Stars dropped one place in the latest rankings, standing in position 103 worldwide.
Also Read: List of Records Ferdinand Omanyala Has Broken So Far