FIFA Ranking: March 2010 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.

Since no changes will take place in top 80, this will most likely be the final preview.

Included: matches up to and including March 17th, 2010.

FIFA removed from the list of "A" matches Romania - Israel 0 - 2, Portugal - China 1 - 0, Algeria - Serbia 0 - 3, Angola - Latvia 1 - 1, Belgium - Croatia 0 - 1 and Macedonia - Montenegro 2 - 1 because team(s) made more than 6 substitutions.

Three matches left - all friendlies:

21/Mar Iceland - Faroe Islands
21/Mar Namibia - Botswana
24/Mar Mexico - Iceland

Here's how the totals can change for these five teams:

Mexico (W: 931, D: 921, L: 916)
Iceland (WW: 392, WD: 364, WL: 349, DW: 379, DD: 350, DL: 336, LW: 372, LD: 343, LL: 329)
Namibia (W: 270, D: 250, L: 240)
Botswana (W: 251, D: 235, L: 228)
Faroe Islands (W: 242, D: 211, L: 196)

In the ranking table, the value displayed for these teams is the minimum possible value. This means that even if they lose, their total can't drop.

Two countries will improve their best ever ranking:

Montenegro (69th - 71st in January 2010)
Comoros (174th - 175th in February 2010)

Portugal will return to their best ever ranking - 4th, first achieved in March 2001.

Three countries will return to their worst ever ranking:

Tunisia (56th, first achieved in March 2008)
Central African Republic (202nd, first achieved in July 2009)

Three countries will have their worst ever ranking:

Malta (158th - 154th in February 2009)
St. Lucia (192nd - 191st in July 2009)
British Virgin Islands (195th - 193rd in January 2008)

Spain kept their place at the top of the rankings by defeating France. A draw would have seen Brazil back in first place. However, Brazil will return to the top on April 28th due to devaluation of results.

Portugal were the biggest movers in the top 10, climbing 2 places.

Central African Republic joins the group of teams with 0 points.

Best movers:

22 - Senegal
15 - Libya and Guatemala
13 - Albania and Moldova

Worst movers:

-19 - Uzbekistan
-18 - Cape Verde Islands
-14 - Guam

Best movers in the top 50:

9 - Norway
6 - Paraguay and Turkey
5 - Algeria

Worst movers in the top 50:

-11 - Northern Ireland
-8 - Bulgaria
-5 - Switzerland, Czech Republic and Republic of Ireland

Iran up to 5th in AFC, overtaking Bahrain.

USA back on top in CONCACAF, with Mexico unable to keep their place even if they win against Iceland.

Ghana drop out of the African top 5, being replaced by Algeria.

Portugal - 3rd in Europe, replacing Italy.

March 2010 rank - Team - March 2010 points - +/- Ranking - +/- Points

1	Spain	1602	0	-40
2	Brazil	1589	0	-5
3	Netherlands	1261	0	-63
4	Portugal	1214	2	13
5	Italy	1183	-1	-43
6	Germany	1157	-1	-51
7	England	1120	1	11
8	France	1077	-1	-94
9	Argentina	1075	0	-12
10	Croatia	1051	1	1
11	Greece	1032	-1	-42
12	Russia	1009	0	-33
13	Chile	974	1	3
14	Egypt	966	3	-1
15	Serbia	950	-2	-30
16	USA	948	2	-6
17	Mexico	916	-2	-52
18	Uruguay	902	1	-34
19	Australia	898	4	31
20	Cameroon	887	0	-1
20	Switzerland	887	-5	-81
22	Nigeria	883	-1	4
23	Paraguay	855	6	40
24	Norway	853	9	55
25	Côte d'Ivoire	846	-3	-28
26	Ukraine	837	-2	-14
27	Algeria	820	5	17
28	Israel	811	-2	-10
29	Slovenia	810	-2	-9
30	Czech Republic	809	-5	-34
31	Ghana	802	-3	-16
32	Romania	798	4	24
33	Slovakia	791	-2	-19
34	Denmark	778	-1	-20
35	Turkey	770	6	31
36	Ecuador	765	1	4
36	Honduras	765	-1	-11
38	Bulgaria	764	-8	-48
39	Colombia	741	-1	-16
40	Sweden	739	2	2
41	Scotland	732	4	51
42	Costa Rica	717	2	16
43	Gabon	707	0	1
44	Republic of Ireland	704	-5	-44
45	Japan	692	1	20
46	Latvia	666	1	4
47	Bosnia-Herzegovina	642	2	-2
48	Venezuela	633	1	-11
49	Korea Republic	629	4	13
50	Northern Ireland	628	-11	-120
51	Bolivia	597	7	51
52	Burkina Faso	589	-1	-49
52	Hungary	589	-4	-56
54	Finland	588	-2	-47
55	Austria	582	1	15
56	Tunisia	574	-1	-13
57	Mali	573	-3	-22
58	Lithuania	570	2	42
59	Poland	562	0	22
60	Peru	537	1	27
61	Benin	531	4	28
62	Saudi Arabia	520	-5	-35
63	Iran	517	4	25
64	Canada	516	-2	8
65	FYR Macedonia	509	-1	3
66	Belgium	506	2	15
67	Bahrain	501	-4	-6
68	Morocco	488	2	6
69	Montenegro	484	2	28
70	Cyprus	470	-4	-25
71	Zambia	452	2	3
72	Senegal	444	22	97
73	Togo	438	-4	-45
74	El Salvador	437	-2	-15
74	Uganda	437	0	-10
76	Panama	430	2	28
77	Wales	416	-1	-4
78	Jamaica	412	-1	4
79	New Zealand	409	1	11
80	Belarus	404	-1	4
81	Iraq	394	6	21
81	Malawi	394	1	6
83	Albania	389	13	54
84	China PR	382	-1	-4
85	Guinea	381	4	14
86	Angola	380	0	1
87	Moldova	372	13	44
87	South Africa	372	-6	-19
89	Mozambique	371	-5	-11
90	Haiti	362	0	-2
91	Gambia	361	4	16
92	Trinidad and Tobago	350	-7	-30
93	Kuwait	348	-5	-20
94	Uzbekistan	345	-19	-97
95	Oman	344	-2	-7
96	Syria	343	5	17
97	Qatar	342	-5	-12
98	Congo	329	5	9
98	Iceland	329	-7	-26
100	Estonia	317	-3	-15
101	Libya	305	15	78
102	Jordan	297	4	27
102	United Arab Emirates	297	13	67
104	Thailand	294	-5	-35
105	Korea DPR	293	-3	-32
106	Armenia	292	-3	-28
107	Rwanda	269	-2	-13
108	Yemen	262	-1	-5
109	Tanzania	259	-1	-5
110	Azerbaijan	257	-1	6
111	Congo DR	253	1	5
112	Zimbabwe	248	5	25
113	Kenya	243	0	-1
114	Guatemala	241	15	67
115	Namibia	240	-4	-9
116	Cape Verde Islands	236	-18	-95
117	Georgia	232	7	32
118	Vietnam	231	-4	0
119	Botswana	228	0	10
120	Antigua and Barbuda	217	3	14
121	Sudan	210	-12	-41
122	Guyana	205	-2	0
123	Ethiopia	204	-1	0
124	Luxembourg	198	2	2
125	Cuba	196	-1	-4
125	Faroe Islands	196	-7	-26
127	Singapore	193	-7	-12
128	Grenada	188	5	26
129	Kazakhstan	177	-2	-13
130	Tajikistan	176	-2	0
131	Fiji	167	-1	0
132	India	164	0	0
132	Swaziland	164	2	3
134	Sierra Leone	162	1	3
134	Turkmenistan	162	-4	-5
136	Bermuda	159	0	3
137	Barbados	157	4	21
138	Indonesia	155	-1	0
139	Maldives	151	1	5
140	Hong Kong	150	2	16
141	Myanmar	147	-2	0
141	Suriname	147	2	14
143	Equatorial Guinea	145	-5	-6
144	Chad	128	0	-4
145	Burundi	127	2	4
146	New Caledonia	126	-1	0
147	Malaysia	123	-1	-1
148	Lesotho	116	0	-3
149	Lebanon	113	0	-5
149	St. Kitts and Nevis	113	2	1
151	Kyrgyzstan	112	10	17
151	Liechtenstein	112	0	0
153	Pakistan	111	3	4
154	Madagascar	110	3	5
155	Vanuatu	108	0	0
156	Liberia	106	4	8
157	Sri Lanka	103	-3	-8
158	Bangladesh	102	0	0
158	Malta	102	-8	-14
160	Nepal	101	-9	-11
160	Nicaragua	101	-1	0
162	Netherlands Antilles	98	4	8
163	Chinese Taipei	95	-1	2
163	Eritrea	95	1	3
165	Niger	92	-1	0
166	St. Vincent and the Grenadines	91	2	5
167	Philippines	86	2	1
168	Mauritania	81	-6	-12
169	Puerto Rico	76	-2	-13
170	Solomon Islands	60	1	0
171	Cambodia	56	1	0
172	Mongolia	48	-2	-13
173	Palestine	45	0	-3
174	Comoros	43	1	0
175	Seychelles	41	-1	-3
176	Mauritius	40	1	0
177	Cayman Islands	39	1	0
177	Laos	39	1	0
177	Somalia	39	1	0
180	Samoa	38	1	0
181	Macau	36	7	5
182	Bahamas	35	-7	-8
183	Belize	34	-1	0
183	Cook Islands	34	-1	0
185	Dominica	33	0	0
186	Turks and Caicos Islands	32	0	0
187	Tonga	28	2	0
188	Dominican Republic	26	2	0
189	Brunei Darussalam	25	2	0
190	Djibouti	23	3	0
191	Afghanistan	20	3	0
192	Guinea-Bissau	19	3	0
192	St. Lucia	19	-6	-13
192	Tahiti	19	3	0
195	British Virgin Islands	18	-4	-7
196	Bhutan	17	1	0
196	Guam	17	-14	-17
198	Aruba	11	0	0
199	US Virgin Islands	5	0	-3
200	Timor-Leste	4	0	0
201	Andorra	2	1	-1
202	American Samoa	0	1	0
202	Anguilla	0	1	0
202	Central African Republic	0	-2	-4
202	Montserrat	0	1	0
202	Papua New Guinea	0	1	0
202	San Marino	0	1	0

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