FIFA Ranking: September 2008 preview (III)

Point totals for teams from the top 20 of the October 2007 ranking should be 100% correct. For the others, there's the issue of historical rankings published before July 2006.

Italy reclaim second place from Germany, Turkey return to the top 10 at the expense of Russia, but are still 5 places shy of their best ever ranking - 5th in June 2004.

Mexico managed to overtake the USA, but Scotland failed to get the win they needed in order to overtake England.

Despite losing 2 - 0 against Finland, Israel will go up one place to 19 - their best ever ranking. Same goes for New Caledonia (95th - previous best ranking was 114th), Montenegro (136th - 142nd in June 2008) and Bhutan (186th - 187th in December 2003).

Sweden will match their worst ever ranking, first achieved in August 1998 - 31st. Laos return to their worst ever ranking - 190th in June 2008.

Three countries will have their worst ever ranking: Tahiti (186th - 181st in June 2007), Andorra (189th - 188th in May 1997) and Faroe Islands (198th - 196th in August 2008).

Cayman Islands will be this month's best climbers: 24 places from 187th to 163rd, followed by Kyrgyzstan (22, 145 to 123) and New Caledonia (21, 116 to 95). In free fall: Solomon Islands and Korea DPR (both falling 24 places) and Samoa with 23.

Instead of the usual top 50, I decided to post the full table. I'd like some feedback - should I keep this up (i.e. posting the full table) or was the top 50 enough for you? Thanks!

September 2008 rank - Team - September 2008 points - +/- Ranking - +/- Points

1	Spain	1572	0	15
2	Italy	1339	1	19
3	Germany	1329	-1	-14
4	Netherlands	1305	0	6
5	Croatia	1266	0	-16
6	Brazil	1252	0	10
7	Argentina	1230	0	11
8	Czech Republic	1134	0	-12
9	Portugal	1120	0	-2
10	Turkey	1033	3	23
11	France	1019	1	7
12	Russia	1013	-2	-10
13	Romania	1007	-2	-14
14	Cameroon	1001	1	7
15	England	990	-1	-13
16	Scotland	977	0	-11
17	Bulgaria	976	0	46
18	Greece	920	0	24
19	Israel	877	1	1
20	Ghana	866	-1	-26
21	Egypt	841	0	-10
22	Uruguay	817	2	4
23	Côte d'Ivoire	813	2	11
24	Mexico	807	8	57
25	Paraguay	802	-3	-18
26	Ukraine	801	2	15
27	Nigeria	791	0	3
28	USA	788	3	21
29	Colombia	786	-6	-30
30	Poland	779	-1	1
31	Sweden	772	-5	-29
32	Northern Ireland	761	0	11
33	Serbia	743	1	-6
34	Norway	732	-5	-46
35	Japan	701	0	-26
36	Denmark	696	0	-26
37	Morocco	671	0	-19
38	Republic of Ireland	662	3	-4
39	Australia	655	-1	-30
39	Chile	655	0	-25
41	Finland	650	1	-3
41	Guinea	650	-1	-20
43	Switzerland	644	1	-1
43	Tunisia	644	4	15
45	Senegal	625	-2	-24
46	Iran	616	-1	-27
47	Mali	610	1	-14
48	Moldova	575	1	-47
49	Saudi Arabia	572	3	-3
50	Hungary	562	0	-29
51	Ecuador	560	5	18
52	Korea Republic	556	1	0
53	Wales	549	-2	-29
54	Lithuania	546	5	26
55	Belgium	531	-9	-106
56	FYR Macedonia	525	-2	-23
57	Belarus	518	0	-18
58	Angola	512	0	-10
59	Honduras	502	2	-4
60	Venezuela	501	0	-7
61	Uzbekistan	494	-6	-51
62	Gabon	485	12	37
63	Latvia	480	2	-4
64	Burkina Faso	478	-1	-21
65	Slovakia	473	-1	-24
66	Bahrain	472	1	10
66	Cyprus	472	-4	-31
68	Congo DR	461	4	5
69	Zambia	459	-2	-3
70	South Africa	448	3	-3
71	Bolivia	444	-2	-16
72	Peru	443	-3	-17
73	Costa Rica	438	5	24
73	Iraq	438	3	5
75	Bosnia-Herzegovina	437	-1	-11
76	Algeria	424	14	38
77	Georgia	422	9	29
78	Cuba	421	2	16
78	Togo	421	-12	-56
80	Slovenia	415	-3	-11
80	Trinidad and Tobago	415	12	36
82	Canada	411	-3	-1
82	Qatar	411	-11	-47
84	Zimbabwe	407	0	11
85	Suriname	405	-1	9
86	Rwanda	400	-3	1
87	Kenya	395	4	11
88	Equatorial Guinea	394	-7	-9
89	Uganda	391	7	20
90	Cape Verde Islands	390	-8	-10
91	Gambia	387	-3	0
92	Oman	383	-4	-4
93	Libya	380	-6	-12
94	China PR	374	3	5
95	New Caledonia	368	21	86
96	Panama	365	-4	-14
97	Syria	364	2	-3
98	Armenia	358	-4	-14
99	Guatemala	357	1	-4
100	Congo	356	5	12
101	Austria	355	2	6
102	Albania	352	-1	-7
103	Mozambique	351	3	10
104	Benin	349	-2	-1
105	Jamaica	338	3	9
106	Guyana	332	12	67
106	Iceland	332	-9	-37
106	Sudan	332	3	4
109	Ethiopia	324	-2	-13
110	United Arab Emirates	321	-6	-24
111	Malawi	317	-1	-1
112	New Zealand	316	-1	0
113	Jordan	306	1	17
114	Thailand	304	-2	0
115	Botswana	299	-2	2
116	Haiti	290	7	38
116	Tanzania	290	-1	2
118	Korea DPR	285	-24	-87
119	Kuwait	284	-2	10
120	Kazakhstan	270	5	34
121	Hong Kong	257	0	1
121	Namibia	257	3	17
123	Kyrgyzstan	254	22	76
124	Antigua and Barbuda	251	8	50
125	Bermuda	241	-6	-19
126	Burundi	238	4	18
127	Chad	236	0	5
128	Estonia	233	-7	-23
129	Liechtenstein	227	-1	-3
129	Singapore	227	-3	-5
131	El Salvador	220	-11	-37
132	Malta	210	-1	6
133	Indonesia	209	14	36
134	Barbados	202	0	9
135	Eritrea	200	5	10
136	Montenegro	198	7	18
137	Yemen PDR	197	1	6
138	Azerbaijan	192	0	1
138	Grenada	192	-2	0
140	Mauritania	191	1	7
140	Swaziland	191	-7	-8
142	Madagascar	190	-6	-2
143	Fiji	185	3	11
144	Liberia	183	-2	0
145	Sierra Leone	181	-11	-12
146	Puerto Rico	180	-3	0
147	Netherlands Antilles	173	0	0
147	St. Vincent and the Grenadines	173	3	11
149	Lebanon	172	0	0
150	Vanuatu	171	1	14
151	India	166	2	35
152	Luxembourg	145	0	-4
153	Solomon Islands	140	-24	-85
154	Tajikistan	136	2	9
155	Maldives	134	-1	5
156	Lesotho	119	2	-3
157	Seychelles	114	4	4
157	Turkmenistan	114	2	0
159	St. Kitts and Nevis	113	1	0
160	Myanmar	112	-3	-13
161	St. Lucia	108	1	0
162	Malaysia	106	0	-2
163	Cayman Islands	99	24	63
164	Turks and Caicos Islands	96	1	0
165	Sri Lanka	95	-1	-10
166	Bahamas	94	-1	-2
167	Vietnam	93	-2	-3
168	Philippines	89	0	0
169	Pakistan	88	-1	-1
170	Mauritius	82	0	-6
171	British Virgin Islands	79	0	0
172	Niger	77	0	3
173	Guinea-Bissau	72	1	0
174	Belize	71	1	0
174	Palestine	71	-2	-3
176	Chinese Taipei	68	0	0
177	Dominican Republic	66	0	0
178	Nepal	64	2	3
178	Samoa	64	-23	-64
180	Bangladesh	62	1	10
181	Nicaragua	45	3	0
182	Cambodia	43	1	-7
183	Afghanistan	40	2	-3
183	Djibouti	40	3	0
185	Brunei Darussalam	36	2	0
186	Bhutan	32	4	0
186	Tahiti	32	-8	-32
186	Tonga	32	-8	-32
189	Andorra	30	-7	-21
190	Laos	27	-1	-7
191	Dominica	25	0	0
192	Mongolia	24	0	0
193	Aruba	22	0	0
194	US Virgin Islands	17	0	0
195	Comoros	13	0	0
196	Macau	11	1	0
197	Somalia	8	1	0
198	Central African Republic	6	1	0
198	Faroe Islands	6	-2	-6
200	American Samoa	0	0	0
200	Anguilla	0	0	0
200	Cook Islands	0	0	0
200	Guam	0	0	0
200	Montserrat	0	0	0
200	Papua New Guinea	0	0	0
200	San Marino	0	0	0
200	Timor-Leste	0	0	0

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About me:

Christian, husband, father x 3, programmer, Romanian. Started the blog in March 2007. Quit in April 2018. You can find me on LinkedIn.