The latest FIFA Rankings have been released after the 2022 World Cup and there are some big changes with teams moving up and down the list.
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World Cup winner Argentina They haven’t topped the FIFA rankings yet, but they’ve jumped into second place with only South American rivals Brazil holding them to the top despite a disappointing World Cup.
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That the team that won the World Cup is not ranked as the number one team on the planet in the latest FIFA rankings will have people everywhere scratching their heads.
That’s fair enough.
Why not lead Argentina?
Looking at the way FIFA calculates its rankings, Lionel Messi and Argentina have points based on the strength of their new opponents.
Brazil has a total score of 1840.77, just over two points behind Argentina’s 1838.38. This means that Argentina will overtake Brazil after their next match if they win and Brazil fail to win.
FIFA changed its way of calculating these rankings in 2018 and Here are the full details of exactly how to do that. Basically, if you face stronger opponents, you earn more points. There is no longer a time period attached to these ratings. If you are bad, you fall faster, and if you are good, you rise faster.
Who are the great climbers?
Morocco is the big winner as the Atlas Lions climbed 11 places to 11th in the world. The job done by Walid Regragui was sensational and they were the darlings of the 2022 World Cup.
Japan also moved up four places to rank 20, while the United States and Switzerland advanced by three places, while the United States ranked 13th in the world and Switzerland ranked 12th.
Australia moved up 11 places to 27th as the Australian team shocked us all by reaching the last 16 of the World Cup, where they eventually gave Argentina a really tough game. Cameroon moved up 10 places to 33rd, thanks in large part to their famous win over Brazil in the group stage.
Who dropped in the ranking?
Belgium moved from second to fourth place and are likely to drop further after their shock group-stage exit at the World Cup. The golden generation is gone.
Spain, Germany, Mexico and Uruguay also fell, while European champions Italy (remember them!?) fell two places, which was inevitable after Roberto Mancini’s team failed to reach the World Cup.
Denmark’s drop from eight places to 18th reflects awful World Cup finals, while Iran dropped four places, Wales dropped nine places, Serbia dropped eight to 30th, Canada dropped 12 places to 53rd and Qatar dropped 10 places to 60th. John Herdman is the biggest fall of any team in a World Cup.
What do I do with the USA ranking?
The ranking of 13 is the second highest position in the USMNT since Greg Berhalter took over as they are ranked 10th in 2021. The USMNT has fallen to 36th in these rankings but for the past 12 months they have been ranked inside. top 20.
With a Gold Cup looming in 2023 and then the possibility of playing in the Copa América in 2024 (according to reports), the USA can climb into the top 10 as they have two major international tournaments to play in and earn more points for. Wins in major tournaments compared to friendly matches.
Below is the FIFA rankings for the top 20 teams, showing the up and down movement of the teams, as well as a graphic showing where each team will land in the 2022 World Cup.
FIFA Rankings, Top 20 as of December 22, 2022
1. Brazil – even
2. Argentina – Top 1
3. France – Top 1
4. Belgium – Bottom 2
5. England – even
6. Netherlands – Top 2
7. Croatia – Top 1
8. Italy – Bottom 2
9. Portugal – even
10. Spain – Bottom 3
11. Morocco – up 11
12. Switzerland – Top 3
13. USA – Up 3
14. Germany – Bottom 3
15. Mexico – Down 2
16. Uruguay – Bottom 2
17. Columbia – even
18. Denmark – Bottom 8
19. Senegal – Bottom 1
20. Japan – Top 4
Seven teams rose more than ten places in the rankings #FIFARanking Since December 2021 ⬆
But @employee They are the highest climbers of the year! 🇲🇦🙌
– FIFA World Cup (FIFA WorldCup) December 22, 2022