lol fifa rankings

j0s · 4 Jul 2012 at 13:02

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...-ahead-of-Italy-sixth-and-Portugal-fifth.html

England up to fourth in Fifa rankings after Euro 2012 ... ahead of Italy sixth and Portugal fifth
Despite bowing out of Euro 2012 at the quarter-final stages, following a penalty shoot-out defeat against Italy, England have remarkably climbed up to fourth in the latest Fifa world rankings – above the Azzurri and Portugal....

How does the rankings work? I would understand non European teams being lower as they haven't played in a tournament

bsoltan · 4 Jul 2012 at 13:07

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_rank#Current_calculation_method

That is rather complicated.

The ranking formula used from August 1993 until December 1998 was very simplistic and quickly became noticed for its lack of supporting factors. Teams received 3 points for a win and 1 point for a draw.

That's the way I like it, nice and simple.

MooMoo444 · 4 Jul 2012 at 13:09

Sure england qualified well, against a bunch of nobodies

As soon as we play in a tournament, we crumble like fine shortbread.

It's a joke to see us fourth in the world.

spoogle · 4 Jul 2012 at 13:11

...wait so this system tells us that England are better than Italy?
Hmmmmmmm

touch · 4 Jul 2012 at 13:18

Moses said:
Losing in the quarter finals, on penalties, to the eventual runners up, isn't terrible!

No, it's not terrible, but isnt winning in the quarter final and then being the eventual runner up better?

Derek W · 4 Jul 2012 at 13:19

the rankings include the warm up games to Euro 2012 as well though so the likes of Italy lost a few of those and i guess Portugal did as well? so that would have gone against them.

Caseh · 4 Jul 2012 at 13:23

touch said:
No, it's not terrible, but isnt winning in the quarter final and then being the eventual runner up better?

Yes, but we didn't "crumble". We merely lost to a team that beat Germany, who a lot of our country were saying we're the best in the competition.. We did better than them as well, by not conceding and taking it to penalties.

Tattysnuc · 4 Jul 2012 at 13:27

So England up to 4th is news, but Brazil dropping to 11th isn't????? Sure they don;t have to qualify, but 11th? What does this ranking system actually achieve, because other than acknowledging that the current World, and twice European champions "Spain" are the best team, it doesn't really tell us much.

mmj_uk · 4 Jul 2012 at 13:44

touch said:
No, it's not terrible, but isnt winning in the quarter final and then being the eventual runner up better?

Yes, but Italy were previously ranked 12th so they've jumped up 6 places in accordance with their performance.

Both Italy and Portugal have lost or drawn friendlies against average teams in the past 12mths though, whereas we've lost only to Netherlands.

Do FIFA count winning on penalties as a win or just a draw?

Admiral Huddy · 4 Jul 2012 at 16:40

MooMoo444 said:
It's a joke to see us fourth in the world.

this..

bung payments somewhere - has to be .

Brazil in 11th???????? France in 14th.. they've won the European and World cup since England have (WC anyway}.

Dabbles · 4 Jul 2012 at 21:51

We aren't 4th best in Europe let alone the world! Maybe it's a typo and they meant 40th?

shadow_boxer · 5 Jul 2012 at 00:32

Not surprising really as England had a solid qualifying campaign and didn't lose any games in the Euros. Ridiculous and pointless table really.

scwba06 · 5 Jul 2012 at 01:25

This is coming from the same organization that employed Sepp Blatter, gave a world cup to Qatar and used to rank Amr Zaki as the #1 striker in the world.
What will they think of next?

mmj_uk · 5 Jul 2012 at 01:34

Dabbles said:
We aren't 4th best in Europe let alone the world! Maybe it's a typo and they meant 40th?

We might not be head to head but in terms of results and consistency we have been.

For example Man UTD weren't the best team in the EPL last season but they were more consistent than City against the 'lesser' teams and nearly won the league as a result.

I guess you just have to treat the FIFA rankings like the league system, it doesn't necessarily mean who will beat who.

muon · 5 Jul 2012 at 02:02

Exactly as I said.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=22190433&postcount=132

anyon said:
From someone else's calculations, if England somehow beat Italy and then lose against Germany they will likely end up ranked 3rd in the world next month.

In a best case scenario where Spain and Germany get knocked out by their opponents in the QFs and England win the tournament, England will end up ranked 1st in the world.

Even if England lose to Italy, but France doesn't win the tournament, or Portugal/Italy reach the final, England will be ranked 4th.

Whatever happens, I predict a thread in a months time about how England are overrated. Also Brazil will drop out of the top 10 for the the first time ever I believe.

Part of the reason this is happening is due to Euro 2008 results dropping out of the calculations.

mysticsniper · 5 Jul 2012 at 08:44

MooMoo444 said:
Sure england qualified well, against a bunch of nobodies

As soon as we play in a tournament, we crumble like fine shortbread.

It's a joke to see us fourth in the world.

Your comments are rather harsh.

We can only play against who is put in front of us. We have had some good wins in the past 12 months, and a nice win against Spain.

I didn't see England crumble in the Euro's, we lost on pens, no disgrace in that.

MooMoo444 · 5 Jul 2012 at 08:47

mysticsniper said:
We can only play against who is put in front of us. We have had some good wins in the past 12 months, and a nice win against Spain.

Why on Earth should friendly results count towards rankings?

Does that not make them more than just friendlies?

wildman · 5 Jul 2012 at 14:57

The top is EU heavy probably because a major tourney just finished. YOu can see Brazil dropped 6 places to 11 from 5, likely because they have not had any competitive games of late ? I assume once the World Cup qualifiers kick in the top 10 will sort itself out again with teams like Braizl / Argentina moving up ahead of teams like England, Denmark Croatia etc.

Also how the hell did greece move up 3 places, they had one of the most god awful tournaments I ever saw ?

mysticsniper · 5 Jul 2012 at 15:16

wildman said:
The top is EU heavy probably because a major tourney just finished. YOu can see Brazil dropped 6 places to 11 from 5, likely because they have not had any competitive games of late ? I assume once the World Cup qualifiers kick in the top 10 will sort itself out again with teams like Braizl / Argentina moving up ahead of teams like England, Denmark Croatia etc.

Also how the hell did greece move up 3 places, they had one of the most god awful tournaments I ever saw ?

Brazil have had some shocking results as of late, went out of the Copa in the quarter finals, which was won by Uruguay who are 3rd in the rankings. They have had some losses to the Argies and Mexico.

England looks like they have played the system to their advantage. But you do have to take these rankings with a pinch of salt.

HangTime · 19 Jul 2012 at 00:23

Happens every time rankings are released after a tournament, people always assume that because England have "failed" on the big stage that they shouldn't be rising up the rankings, when the reality is that their results compare favourably with the majority of teams.

As mentioned the fact that Euro2008 has dropped out obviously helps England, since we didn't qualify for that tournament. Similarly when you look at the European club rankings it is done on previous 5 years, people used to chortle at Liverpool's position a couple of years back when they could still benefit from the win in 2005 and final in 2007.