The new FIFA rankings are out and Argentina, despite becoming world champions, is not on the top.
The latest rankings of the Men’s football was updated on 22 December, 2022. Brazil is the top team which holds the crown in the FIFA rankings.
FIFA Rankings: Value
The rankings in FIFA make their best attempt to represent national football teams for their accomplishments throughout a calendar year. Though the World cup is the most prestigious among all other competitions, other tournaments to have a weight age in rankings. Other tournaments help teams to accomplish more points for better rankings.
The FIFA rankings are most essential because it determines the pool in which a team will get placed for the upcoming World cup. Therefore, it becomes important to have an outstanding record.
Changes in Ranking after the World Cup
Argentina holds the second rank despite becoming the World Champions. As mentioned earlier, every game in the calendar holds value. Their loss against Saudi Arabia in the group stage is one of the major reasons for their loss in the ranking.
Also, their win against the Netherlands in the quarterfinals and in the finals against France came in penalties. Match wins in penalties have lesser value compared to win in normal time or extra time play.
Therefore, the top two spots are held by the South American giants.
France came down to number 3 and Belgium, who were number 2, came down to 4. England remained stagnant in the fifth position.
Croatia became the biggest gainers among the elite teams, jumping to the seventh spot. Earlier they ranked twelfth.
Morocco made the biggest leap upwards. From twenty-second they came up to eleventh rank after finishing fourth in the World cup.
United States of America dominated the top spot on the North American continent. They leapt over Mexico and Germany to occupy the thirteenth position. Canada was the biggest losers, as they came down to 53 from 41.
Japan was the highest-ranking Asian team and moved up 4 places, occupying the twentieth spot.
European nations make up 11 out of the top 20 rankings. They ranked four south American nations among the top twenty. Uruguay, Brazil, Argentina and Mexico. Presence of Senegal and Morocco from the African sub-continent is visible. From Asia, only Japan has made it to the top twenty.
When Are Next FIFA Ranking Out
FIFA rankings go through a revision after each recognised international window. This means that after every renowned international tournament or competition, a team’s performance matters for rankings.
They hold these tournaments several times a year, and it depends on FIFA’s calendar. The next FIFA international widow is March 20-28 in 2024. Hence, after this event, new rankings will come into force in April, 2024.
How are FIFA Rankings Calculated
Since 1992, the ranking system in FIFA has existed, which follows a point scoring system to work out the standings. However, the method of calculating the ranks was changed in August 2018.
The new system works on the mechanism of adding and subtracting points from a team’s previous total based result. The type of the team a country plays also influences the points of a country. In short, the caliber of the other team also matters.
Specific games also carry more or lesser weight. For example, if the country wins a World cup match, they get more points compared to an international friendly.
Also, wins in a penalty have a lesser value in terms of points. They awarded a team losing in the penalty the same points as a losing team; whereas a win in penalty is half the points of a winning team.
The scoring system is a little complicated.
