Spain No 1 and Netherlands No 2 in latest FIFA Rankings

Photo courtesy Salvatore Vuono www.freedigitalphotos.net

Newly crowned Football World Cup champions Spain regained the top position followed by runners up Netherlands, in the latest FIFA rankings which did not spring too many surprises.

Previous No 1 Brazil dropped to No 3 while Argentina and Germany moved up by 2 positions to the secure the No 4 and No 5 ranks respectively.

World Cup semi finalist Uruguay moved up 10 positions to be at No 6.  Surprisingly England advanced by one place to be at No 7 despite their poor World Cup where they managed just a solitary win and ended the campaign with a heavy defeat against Germany.  New Zealand got the biggest boost in rankings by moving up by 24 places to be at No. 54, a just reward for the only team to remain unbeaten in the World Cup.

FIFA Top Ten Rankings: 1 Spain, 2 Netherlands, 3 Brazil, 4 Germany, 5 Argentina, 6 Uruguay, 7 England, 8 Portugal, 9 Egypt, 10 Chile

FIFA revamped its ranking calculations method after 2006 FIFA World Cup following wide criticism. Current method does not take the home or away advantage, but it does include a simplified calculation model based on the quality of the opposition, status of the match and regional aspects. Since World Cup matches carry the  highest status,  many teams had fluctuating fortunes in the FIFA rankings. The last update to the rankings was made in May 2010.

Here are some Statistical highlights from the July 2010 FIFA Rankings:

1.  Netherlands achieved the highest increase in terms of points, 428, and at the opposite end was Canada with the biggest drop of 221 points. From a ranking perspective, Netherlands jumped by 2 positions to be at No 2, whereas Canada dropped by 37 positions to be No 100.

2.  New Zealand recorded the largest forward leap in rank, upping their rankings by 24 positions to be at No 54. Botswana almost emulated the same feat, moving 23 positions to be ranked at No 93. Haiti had the biggest drop in Rankings, by 39 positions, to spiral them downwards to No 130.

3.  Within the top 100, notable improvements in Ranking were achieved by Paraguay (No 16), Peru (No 38), Trinidad and Tobago (No 76), and South Africa (No 66). Within top 100, many had major setbacks to the Rankings, this included Canada (No 100), Cameroon (No 40), Panama (No 94) and El Salvador (No 90)

4.  Only 11 countries in the top 200 did not have any change to their rankings. This included Australia (No 20), Norway (No 22), Bahrain (No 69) and Moldova (No 89).

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Arun Arunagiri

Short URL: http://www.onlinenewsheardnow.com/?p=275

Posted by Crazymcnick81@yahoo.com on Jul 15 2010. Filed under Featured, New, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.