Latest FIFA Rankings Released - US Stays in Top 20
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by user Sayhey-rod
US Soccer drops 11 spots from 5th to 16th in FIFA's lastest soccer rankings (http://www.fifa.com/en/mens/statistics/index/0,2548,All-Jul-2006,00.html). Brazil remains at #1 while Italy improves 10 places to #2. The biggest movers in the top 50 were Switzerland (up 22 spots to 13), the Ukraine (up 30 to 15th) and Ghana (up 23 to 25). Big surprises are England's advance from 10th to 5th given their unspectacular Cup performance and Guinea ranked at 24th.
The rankings formula has been redesigned, under the new system:
- games played only over the last four years are accounted for, instead of the last eight, as previously was the case
- the weighting system gives more importance to World Cup games as opposed to friendlies
- regional/opponent strength, goals for/against, home/away are also factored into the weighting formula
While I think the new ranking formula is an improvement, I think the entire proposition of ranking the best teams is a difficult one, given all the variables that must be considered. I still have an issue with FIFA considering team performances from 4 yrs ago (though obviously it is an improvement over 8 yrs), simply because the players on the teams flucuate significantly from one world cup to another. It is like ranking college football or basketball based on how a team did one or two years ago.
That said, what do you think of the new formula? (http://www.fifa.com/en/mens/statistics/rank/procedures/0,2540,3,00.html) What do you think of ranking formulas in general, say the BCS as an example?
Date
Wed 07/12/06, 6:45 am EST
