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FIFA World Rankings March 2009

The top seven teams in the world in March 2009 are unchanged with Euro 2008 winners Spain at the top with Germany in second place and the Netherlands in third. England are in 9th after impressive results in World Cup qualifying but drop one place after a recent friendly loss in Spain

Japan are in 35th position. South Korea are up to 44th position.

The USA are up at 17th. Scotland are in 28th position. The Republic of Ireland are up three to 26th 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)