FIFA Ranking: February 2009 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.

Included matches: up to and including February 1st, 2009. Matches left to play: 3 friendlies (Japan - Finland, Bahrain - Korea Republic, Saudi Arabia - Thailand). FIFA might include two other friendlies: El Salvador - Peru and Lithuania - Poland.

This could be the final preview for February.

The African nations see now the disadvantage of having their continental championships every two years, as results from CAN 2006 and CAN 2008 are devalued. The top point losers are Egypt (-232), Guinea (-102), Ghana (-100), Cameroon (-89), Côte d'Ivoire (-74) and Nigeria (-64).

Nicaragua (+176), Panama (+169) and Costa Rica (+87) are reaping the benefits of good runs at the UNCAF Nations Cup 2009.

Best movers:

Nicaragua (50), Panama (33), Benin (18), Bermuda (15), Bahrain (14).

Worst movers:

-16 - Egypt, Zambia, Cuba
-14 - Kenya, Turks and Caicos Islands
-12 - Haiti
-10 - Ghana, St. Vincent and the Grenadines
-9 - Angola, Armenia, Kuwait

Five countries will improve their best ever ranking:

Australia (27th - 28th in December 2008)
Panama (50th - 52nd in June 2007)
Gambia (74th - 75th in January 2009)
Montenegro (111th - 112th in December 2008)
Nicaragua (132nd - 150th in August 1993)

Congo DR will return to their worst ever ranking - 94th, first achieved in September 2008.

Five countries will have their worst ever ranking:

Colombia (51st - 49th in December 2008)
Zambia (92nd - 80th in May 2004)
United Arab Emirates (115th - 114th in January 2009)
Malta (154th - 150th in November 2008)
Dominica (196th - 192nd in January 2009)

Iran might move to 3rd in AFC if Korea Republic do not win against Bahrain.
Egypt drop to 2nd in CAF, overtaken by Nigeria.
Panama enter the CONCACAF top 5.

Best movers in the top 50:

33 - Panama
9 - Costa Rica
8 - Republic of Ireland
6 - Sweden
4 - Romania and Hungary

Worst movers in the top 50:

-16 - Egypt
-10 - Ghana
-8 - Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea and Tunisia
-6 - Nigeria
-5 - Senegal

February 2009 current rank - Team - February 2009 current points - +/- Ranking - +/- Points

1	Spain	1693	0	30
2	Germany	1403	0	14
3	Netherlands	1357	0	19
4	Italy	1318	0	-8
5	Brazil	1248	0	2
6	Argentina	1181	0	1
7	Croatia	1175	0	33
8	England	1136	0	21
9	Russia	1119	0	16
10	Turkey	1040	0	24
11	France	1026	0	19
12	Czech Republic	1020	-1	13
12	Portugal	1020	-1	13
14	Ukraine	936	2	27
15	Paraguay	922	3	33
16	Cameroon	900	-2	-89
17	Romania	880	4	22
18	Israel	878	1	1
19	Greece	864	1	-8
20	USA	858	2	5
21	Switzerland	856	3	32
22	Uruguay	849	1	21
23	Nigeria	827	-6	-64
24	Mexico	791	2	-20
25	Sweden	780	6	32
26	Bulgaria	773	2	-9
27	Australia	760	2	-17
28	Poland	754	3	6
29	Republic of Ireland	747	8	36
30	Chile	743	0	-14
31	Egypt	742	-16	-232
32	Scotland	739	1	0
33	Serbia	737	2	6
34	Denmark	725	2	9
35	Côte d'Ivoire	713	-8	-72
35	Ghana	713	-10	-100
37	Japan	694	-3	-40
38	Costa Rica	693	9	87
38	Honduras	693	2	4
40	Ecuador	692	-1	-5
41	Morocco	654	0	14
42	Slovakia	636	2	15
43	Hungary	630	4	24
44	Iran	623	2	10
45	Korea Republic	618	-3	-10
46	Guinea	608	-8	-102
47	Mali	603	-4	-23
48	Lithuania	595	2	12
49	Northern Ireland	593	3	13
50	Panama	586	33	169
51	Colombia	584	-2	-13
52	Slovenia	570	5	38
53	Tunisia	568	-8	-47
54	Belgium	567	0	19
55	Senegal	565	-5	-18
56	Saudi Arabia	558	-3	-1
57	Norway	550	2	24
58	Finland	545	-3	10
59	Bolivia	537	-1	9
60	Bosnia-Herzegovina	535	1	18
60	FYR Macedonia	535	-4	2
62	Burkina Faso	520	0	8
63	Gabon	514	-1	2
64	Jamaica	508	2	14
65	Wales	501	-5	-21
66	Algeria	497	-2	-4
67	Latvia	493	3	9
68	Venezuela	490	-3	-6
69	Congo	486	1	2
69	South Africa	486	5	28
71	Peru	479	1	17
72	Uganda	477	-4	-12
73	Uzbekistan	476	-4	-9
74	Gambia	465	1	19
75	Bahrain	461	14	54
76	Angola	454	-9	-38
77	Iceland	444	3	23
78	Trinidad and Tobago	440	-5	-21
79	Albania	435	-1	11
80	Libya	432	-2	8
81	Benin	422	18	60
82	New Zealand	419	0	0
83	Austria	414	9	26
84	Sudan	412	9	29
85	Rwanda	407	6	16
86	Iraq	406	-1	-6
87	Canada	398	-1	-12
87	Togo	398	3	-7
89	Belarus	394	-8	-26
89	Oman	394	5	18
91	Qatar	388	-5	-22
92	Zambia	381	-16	-49
93	Cuba	380	-16	-45
94	Congo DR	374	-8	-36
95	Mozambique	372	3	0
96	Cyprus	368	-2	-8
96	Syria	368	9	32
98	Kenya	367	-14	-46
99	Moldova	364	-2	-9
100	Zimbabwe	350	-4	-24
101	Ethiopia	348	1	0
102	Malawi	342	1	0
103	Tanzania	341	-2	-11
104	China PR	339	0	-1
105	Fiji	333	1	0
106	Cape Verde Islands	332	1	0
107	Georgia	328	1	0
108	El Salvador	323	2	8
109	Guatemala	315	0	-10
109	Sierra Leone	315	1	0
111	Montenegro	310	2	0
112	Haiti	302	-12	-55
113	Grenada	298	10	45
114	Namibia	297	1	1
115	United Arab Emirates	296	-1	-8
116	Bermuda	291	15	62
116	Thailand	291	8	39
118	Botswana	283	-1	0
119	Korea DPR	280	-3	-7
120	Luxembourg	279	1	20
121	Armenia	278	-9	-35
122	Antigua and Barbuda	265	5	23
122	Estonia	265	-4	5
124	Equatorial Guinea	255	-2	-2
125	Chad	249	-7	-11
126	Jordan	247	0	3
127	Kuwait	246	-9	-14
128	Barbados	243	-3	-5
129	Suriname	231	0	0
130	New Caledonia	229	1	0
131	Singapore	225	4	18
132	Nicaragua	221	50	176
133	Guyana	218	-4	-13
134	Burundi	217	-6	-19
135	Vietnam	216	3	34
136	Azerbaijan	213	-2	4
137	Indonesia	210	7	43
138	Swaziland	209	-1	19
139	Kazakhstan	207	-6	-3
139	Madagascar	207	-4	0
141	Liberia	179	-2	0
142	Vanuatu	176	-2	0
143	Hong Kong	174	9	35
144	Puerto Rico	170	-3	-3
145	Niger	168	-3	0
146	Tajikistan	162	0	0
147	India	161	-5	-7
147	Yemen	161	6	30
149	Lebanon	150	-4	-13
150	Mauritania	149	-1	0
151	Liechtenstein	147	0	0
152	Netherlands Antilles	142	2	14
153	St. Kitts and Nevis	139	1	11
154	Malta	134	-6	-17
155	Turkmenistan	131	-6	-18
156	Maldives	126	1	0
157	St. Vincent and the Grenadines	123	-10	-30
158	Myanmar	121	-2	-6
159	Kyrgyzstan	112	0	0
160	Eritrea	108	0	0
161	Lesotho	103	0	-3
161	Malaysia	103	-3	-11
163	Solomon Islands	100	0	0
164	Philippines	98	-2	-4
164	Sri Lanka	98	0	0
166	Pakistan	89	-1	0
167	Chinese Taipei	85	-1	0
168	Cayman Islands	76	3	3
169	Bahamas	74	0	0
169	Mauritius	74	0	0
171	Laos	73	-3	-7
172	Seychelles	72	0	0
173	Nepal	70	1	0
174	Bangladesh	68	1	0
175	Samoa	64	1	0
175	St. Lucia	64	1	0
177	Belize	62	-4	-9
178	Somalia	57	0	0
179	Cambodia	56	0	0
179	Palestine	56	1	4
181	Turks and Caicos Islands	51	-14	-32
182	British Virgin Islands	50	-1	0
183	Brunei Darussalam	45	-1	0
184	Afghanistan	44	0	0
185	Faroe Islands	42	0	0
186	Djibouti	41	0	0
187	Dominican Republic	40	0	0
188	Guinea-Bissau	38	0	0
189	Bhutan	33	0	0
190	Tahiti	32	0	0
190	Tonga	32	0	0
192	Mongolia	24	1	0
193	Aruba	22	1	0
194	US Virgin Islands	17	2	0
195	Andorra	14	0	-6
196	Dominica	12	-4	-13
197	Macau	10	0	0
198	Timor-Leste	9	0	0
199	Comoros	8	0	0
200	Central African Republic	6	0	0
201	American Samoa	0	0	0
201	Anguilla	0	0	0
201	Cook Islands	0	0	0
201	Guam	0	0	0
201	Montserrat	0	0	0
201	Papua New Guinea	0	0	0
201	San Marino	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.