FIFA World Rankings July 2009

Confederations Cup winner Brazil overtake Euro 2008 winners Spain at the top the rankings. The Netherlands are third with Italy next. England are in 7th after impressive results in World Cup qualifying.

Japan are in 40th position. South Korea are in 48th position.

The USA are in 12th. Scotland are in 24th position. The Republic of Ireland are in 37th position.

Source: www.fifa.com

How the rankings are calculated

Match Result: - Win-Draw-Defeat = 3 points - 1 points – 0 points
Importance of match - 1 (friendly match) to 4 (FIFA World Cup™)
Strength of opponent - Position in world ranking (no. 1 = 2.00, no. 30 = 1.70, no. 118 = 0.82 etc.) Formula: [200 minus Position] / 100
Regional strength - Based on results in last three FIFA World Cups (wins per confederation per match)
Period - Since the change to the FIFA World Ranking procedure which came into effect in August 2006 the rankings will no longer take into account the last eight years of results only the last four years of results.
Last four years, gradual decline in importance of results: 100%- 50% - 30% - 20%
Number of matches considered per year - Average points gained from all matches in last 12 months (minimum: 5 matches)

Soccerphile Soccer Shop

"The Onside In-Site" Copyright © From 2000. All rights reserved. Soccerphile Ltd.