FIFA World Rankings: July 2008
Spain are now top of the FIFA world rankings after winning Euro 2008 last month. It’s their first time on top, and just rewards for their excellent efforts throughout the tournament.
The ranking system is based on international results over the past four years with more points awarded for wins in major tournaments. I won’t bore you with the details here but if you’re interested in how teams are ranked, read the two articles linked at the end:
FIFA Rankings (July 2008):
(previous position in brackets)
1. (4) Spain
2. (3) Italy
3. (5) Germany
4. (2) Brazil
5. (10) Netherlands
6. (1) Argentina
7. (15) Croatia
8. (6) Czech Republic
9. (11) Portugal
10. (7) France
11. (24) Russia
12. (12) Romania
13. (13) Cameroon
14. (20) Turkey
15. (9) England
16. (17) Scotland
17. (18) Bulgaria
18. (8) Greece
19. (14) Mexico
20 (16) Ghana
Further Reading:
Top 50 Ranked Teams in FIFA and Elo (30 May 2008)
World Football Elo Ratings for Euro 2008 – an alternative to FIFA rankings?
Topics: General Football News
Football News 24/7
Going to admit some ignorance right now. I’ve always heard that the FIFA rankings are rubbish, but I’ve never really heard the arguments why. Would someone care to enlighten me on why the rankings are so flawed?
July 2nd, 2008 @ 14:00Italy #2 ??? Who are the morons coming up with this ? After their poor performance in Euro2008, i wouldn’t rank them in the top 10 !
July 2nd, 2008 @ 14:20how does argentina go from no.1 down to no.6 in a few days???
and italy were horrible they should not be ranked there because if i knew nothing about soccer and looked at the standings i would think they were a good team when we all know they really shit…
and how are portugal behind czech republic when they gave them a real beating? flawed system
July 2nd, 2008 @ 15:03At last Greece is coming down in this rating!
Bulgaria – the 17th? I’m not sure!
July 2nd, 2008 @ 15:17How does a team like Italy jump to 2nd position whlies Argentina drop to the 6th postion? Please have a second look at this, fifa official.
July 2nd, 2008 @ 15:37Beside, how is it posible that Ghana moved to the 20th postion after winning three games of the world cup qualifing games. I hope is not only few of the fifa officers that ranked the countries.
Czech Republic and Crotia infront of Portugal and Russia is questionable. Please review your ranking again, becouse I have followed soccer since 12 years till now in late thirties.
And you can see…FIFA knows nothing about soccer except how to make money from it. They definitely don’t know who number one is. I still believe Argentina and Brazil should still be one-two in the standings. Spain should be number three because of the Euro, but Italy is definitely not no. 2. They are there just because they are defending world champs, but they did not play like world champs. It’s just ridiculous.
July 2nd, 2008 @ 15:53I dont know what fifa see in choosing one country above another even when the country in question isn’t performing well in international competion.Cant believe Czech is 8th while Turkey is 14th
July 2nd, 2008 @ 15:54lol @ comments. It’s a formula, there’s no bias or manual calculation involved…
July 2nd, 2008 @ 16:28You idiots.
Still, I don’t know how Italy got to #2, they must have been playing [and winning] friendlies on a daily basis for the last month because I don’t know where those points are coming from. Good thing Greece went down though, we can’t have that.
July 2nd, 2008 @ 17:03EASY RICARDO !
Italy played like shit in the Euros, they are NOT shit..They are the world champs and they choked…just like Argentina did in the Copa America, just like Brazil did in WC 06, and just like Portugal and Holland did in WC 06 and the Euros..
The European teams are the best…Outside of Brazil and Aregntina, all of the other teams in the world SUCK !!!!
July 2nd, 2008 @ 17:54Why on Earth are Italy in at 2 they played rubbish in the Euros, and they are certainly not as good as the Netherlands who gave them a beating.
July 2nd, 2008 @ 19:28I also want to know why France are above Russia, Russia reached the semi finals of the Euros- France din’t even get through the group stage!
I am also surprised that Germany are above Brazil and Argentina, yes they reached the Euro final but I think that Brazil and Argentina are still out oftheir league.
The only thing I agree on is England 15th, we suck at the moment!
alright guys, lots of complains on here. #1 being spain is CORRECT, I think thats the right choice although I am a germany fan I agree with that decision.
As for #2, WOW, unfortunately in the euro, italy only got one loss, because the game against spain counted as a TIE for Italy. duh guys you have to realize that, but I still think THEY SHOULD NOT be #2. Germany should be there.
#3 I believe should be argentina followed by brazil, then holland, italy 6th, but france??? WOW I HATE the fact their still top ten, thats WRONG!
July 2nd, 2008 @ 19:31why are people so myopic in their thought?how can you judge a team’s performance in a competion cos the country couldn’t make it to the semi’s,at least they got to the next stage which is acceptable.sometimes we ave to be patience in our judgement,we should not forget the fact that this people are humans aswell.good rating by fifa.
July 2nd, 2008 @ 23:22This ranking does not garner much respect as Turkey who eliminated both the Chez Republic and Croatia is pulled up by six places when Croatia; the team eliminated by Turkey goes from the 15th position to the sixth position???. Furthermore Russia went up 13 positions when Turkey by far was the better of the two semi-final teams!. The Turkish national team should have been placed within the lower end of top ten teams as Turkey was neck-to-neck against Germany in the semi final match. Please revise for a more objective ranking. You have got Spain and Greece right!.
July 3rd, 2008 @ 02:48ahmed and his crew needs to do more thorough research on the criteria of ranking fifa use to rank teams. only then will so many understand why countries like italy who were admittedly poor at the euros still occupy the 2nd spot. the little i know is there are some technicalities involve in making these rankings its not just on current form. beta still check fifa.com they may have these criteria(um) available on their website. ahmed i am still gonna reply ur e-mail i ve been quite busy lately, so that i can lodge my grivience u heard?
July 3rd, 2008 @ 05:34Stallone Rock:
Why do ‘we’ need to do more research? ‘We’ already know the criteria – it’s the readers who’ve jumped the gun and reacted the way they have. The article clearly states this as well, it’s the second paragraph and I’m sure you can get the gist of how the rankings work from that.
July 3rd, 2008 @ 06:42yooo people like fifa aint lying about this… this is based on the results of the games, since they played the euro cup, teams like brazil and argentina go downcuz they dont play mate… so just shut up and look at the results.. oh and italy doesnt suck they deserve their place maybe not 2 but 4 or 5… look at their games.. and then we’ll talk
July 3rd, 2008 @ 23:41Argentina drop those place because maybe they haven’t played a major competitive match in a while same with Brazil. Wait until the Copa America and then quit moaning. Spain no.1 I don’t have many problems with that. Italy no.2 they are defending world champions so why not? What sense would it be if they were 10th. I can’t believe no-one’s complained about Scotland being a place behind England. WTF? That is how shit we have been. But at least they have covering our backs by ranking the Russians and the Croats higher than us.
July 4th, 2008 @ 09:37#12, there’s no choice.
July 6th, 2008 @ 17:47Realmadrids casillas has more chanpions league trophies than Christiano Ronaldo he is also in a good team he has more laliga trophies.,for trophies he has many.He has had a good sean because now he has taken the laliga and the European cup and for that case i wish him the award for the world player of the year because he has had a good season too! but why doesnt FIFA recognise goal keepers too in the records no keeper has the award despite Buffon and Dida being also great in some years but for casillas has proved his status and i think he should be the world no.1 now..i request FIFA to also include goal keepers because they arre also part of the games plase put more power in them.
July 15th, 2008 @ 14:40we’re online lets check the language we use online some kid may be reading. Well i do not believe the fifa ranking is a true reflection of what’s going on.
August 12th, 2008 @ 16:58actually Spain has earned the no. 1 spot because of the superior soccer they played in euro 2008.
August 13th, 2008 @ 00:20They also outplayed every team.
Spain was prepared.
To: Ahmed Bilal
Of course bias is built in!!!. The terms are the ‘formula’ are subject to manipulation any whichway
August 13th, 2008 @ 00:45italy r 2nd coz they won d world cup in 06 which mean they get MANY pts!!newez i think germany should still be ahead of them n not cuz m a germany fan lol..n ghana r way better than bulgaria!!
August 14th, 2008 @ 08:08DeutscheKoenig y do u hate france been top ten is that because you couldnt win the damn world cup in your OWN country!
September 5th, 2008 @ 15:03peace bruv!
Ghana? 20th? Ive seen there 4-2 loss from egypt(egypti is 35th), and their 5-0 loss from Saudi arabia 5-0 (Saudi araabis is 55th). top 10 would be
Spain
February 3rd, 2009 @ 16:13Brazil
Germany
France
Netherlands
Turkey
Russia
France
England
Portugal