FIFA Ranking: Why the need for confederation weightings?

The answer is very simple: Africa. With the Africa Cup of Nations scheduled every two years, Africa would have had a team in the top 10 almost every time.

Computing the ranking without the confederations rankings would have seen Cameroon on top in July and August 2003. Between August 1997 and March 2011 there have been 159 FIFA ranking releases. In 152 of them there would have been at least one African team in the top 10.

Teams that would have made it in the top 10:

Team - Highest ranking

Cameroon	1
Nigeria	2
Egypt	3
Togo	3
Côte d'Ivoire	5
Morocco	5
Senegal	5
South Africa	5
Tunisia	5
Angola	6
Ghana	6
Congo DR	8

Looking strictly at the March 2011 ranking (see at the end of the post), here are the main differences:

Top 10 differences for countries with a better FIFA Ranking:

Team - Ranking without weightings - FIFA Ranking - Difference

Scotland	71	50	21
Bulgaria	67	47	20
Hungary	54	36	18
Bosnia-Herzegovina	74	56	18
Moldova	105	87	18
Israel	75	58	17
Latvia	92	75	17
Northern Ireland	56	40	16
Belgium	78	62	16
Estonia	98	82	16

Top 10 differences for countries with a better Ranking without weightings:

Team - Ranking without weightings - FIFA Ranking - Difference

Libya	52	71	-19
Botswana	49	67	-18
Gabon	43	60	-17
Morocco	50	66	-16
Cape Verde Islands	57	73	-16
Uzbekistan	62	77	-15
Senegal	55	69	-14
Saudi Arabia	65	79	-14
Benin	66	80	-14
Algeria	43	55	-12

Top 50 nations only (in the top 50 in at least one of the rankings)

Top 10 differences for countries with a better FIFA Ranking:

Team - Ranking without weightings - FIFA Ranking - Difference

Scotland	71	50	21
Bulgaria	67	47	20
Hungary	54	36	18
Northern Ireland	56	40	16
Republic of Ireland	45	34	11
Belarus	48	37	11
Ecuador	60	49	11
Colombia	61	50	11
Norway	21	11	10
Italy	19	11	8

Top 10 differences for countries with a better Ranking without weightings:

Team - Ranking without weightings - FIFA Ranking - Difference

Botswana	49	67	-18
Gabon	43	60	-17
Morocco	50	66	-16
Algeria	43	55	-12
Côte d'Ivoire	14	25	-11
Mexico	17	27	-10
Egypt	25	35	-10
Guinea	34	44	-10
Tunisia	35	45	-10
USA	10	19	-9

This is the March 2011 ranking without confederation weightings:

Rank - Team - Points

1	Spain	1860
2	Netherlands	1704
3	Argentina	1492
4	Brazil	1487
5	Germany	1455
6	Uruguay	1263
7	England	1190
8	Ghana	1106
8	Japan	1106
10	USA	1066
11	Portugal	1033
12	Australia	1028
13	Greece	997
14	Côte d'Ivoire	994
15	Croatia	987
16	Chile	980
17	Mexico	935
18	Slovenia	916
19	Italy	900
20	Russia	896
21	Norway	894
22	Korea Republic	889
23	France	867
24	Paraguay	860
25	Egypt	856
26	Slovakia	842
27	Serbia	836
28	Switzerland	799
29	Denmark	776
30	Nigeria	755
31	Burkina Faso	754
32	Montenegro	753
33	Honduras	736
34	Guinea	711
35	Tunisia	710
36	Sweden	706
37	Czech Republic	703
38	Cameroon	698
39	Iran	688
40	Turkey	682
41	Ukraine	672
42	Jamaica	661
43	Gabon	659
43	Algeria	659
45	Republic of Ireland	655
46	South Africa	651
47	Costa Rica	642
48	Belarus	607
49	Botswana	605
50	Morocco	599
51	New Zealand	598
52	Libya	595
53	Cuba	592
54	Hungary	588
55	Senegal	582
56	Northern Ireland	571
57	Cape Verde Islands	567
57	Panama	567
59	Peru	564
60	Ecuador	562
61	Colombia	559
62	Uzbekistan	529
63	Romania	518
64	Venezuela	517
65	Saudi Arabia	510
66	Benin	509
67	Bulgaria	507
68	Lithuania	506
69	China PR	504
70	Jordan	501
71	Scotland	500
72	Austria	491
73	Mali	486
74	Bosnia-Herzegovina	483
75	Israel	479
75	Uganda	479
77	Malawi	476
78	Belgium	472
79	Armenia	471
80	Canada	465
81	Iraq	459
82	Poland	457
83	Mozambique	455
84	Qatar	453
85	El Salvador	446
86	Georgia	444
87	Albania	424
88	Bahrain	421
89	Grenada	420
90	Zambia	415
91	Trinidad and Tobago	414
92	Latvia	409
93	Finland	392
94	Togo	390
95	FYR Macedonia	386
96	Haiti	383
97	Kuwait	378
98	Estonia	375
99	Gambia	371
100	Sudan	369
101	Angola	368
102	Antigua and Barbuda	363
103	Syria	362
103	Niger	362
105	Moldova	352
106	Cyprus	348
107	Oman	338
108	Bolivia	337
109	Central African Republic	332
110	Guyana	326
111	Korea DPR	313
111	United Arab Emirates	313
113	Azerbaijan	312
114	Congo	298
115	Thailand	295
116	Congo DR	294
117	Suriname	293
117	Tanzania	293
119	Ethiopia	288
120	Sierra Leone	286
121	St. Kitts and Nevis	279
122	Yemen	267
123	Zimbabwe	264
124	Guatemala	262
125	Kenya	257
126	Iceland	246
127	Indonesia	243
128	Luxembourg	236
129	Wales	229
130	Rwanda	221
131	Dominica	220
132	Puerto Rico	215
133	Vietnam	209
134	Guinea-Bissau	203
135	Barbados	192
136	Malaysia	175
137	Kazakhstan	174
137	Namibia	174
139	Singapore	171
140	Chad	167
140	Burundi	167
142	Hong Kong	163
143	Faroe Islands	154
144	India	150
145	Equatorial Guinea	138
146	Chinese Taipei	134
147	Curacao	133
147	Tajikistan	133
149	St. Vincent and the Grenadines	129
150	Philippines	126
151	Fiji	125
152	Liechtenstein	122
153	New Caledonia	115
154	Turkmenistan	114
155	Cambodia	110
156	Madagascar	109
157	Swaziland	107
158	Liberia	105
159	Cayman Islands	103
160	Maldives	96
160	Myanmar	96
162	Vanuatu	90
162	Bermuda	90
164	Nicaragua	89
165	Malta	83
166	Lesotho	78
167	Belize	77
168	Dominican Republic	75
169	Lebanon	70
170	Laos	68
171	Pakistan	66
172	Nepal	64
173	Mauritania	61
173	Sri Lanka	61
175	Kyrgyzstan	59
176	Bangladesh	58
177	Eritrea	48
177	British Virgin Islands	48
179	Solomon Islands	47
179	Palestine	47
181	Macau	46
182	St. Lucia	43
183	Mongolia	38
184	Tahiti	37
185	Samoa	30
186	Somalia	29
187	Comoros	23
188	Mauritius	20
188	Cook Islands	20
188	Guam	20
188	Tonga	20
192	Djibouti	18
193	Bahamas	15
193	Turks and Caicos Islands	15
195	Afghanistan	12
196	Seychelles	11
196	Bhutan	11
196	Brunei Darussalam	11
199	Aruba	8
200	US Virgin Islands	6
201	Timor-Leste	3
202	American Samoa	0
202	Andorra	0
202	Anguilla	0
202	Montserrat	0
202	Papua New Guinea	0
202	San Marino	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.

2014 FIFA World Cup: UEFA keep the same qualifying format

Approved the format of the European qualifiers for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, whereby the 53 participating teams will be split into 8 groups of 6 teams and 1 group of 5 teams. The 9 group winners will qualify for the World Cup and the 8 best runners-up will contest home-and-away play-offs to determine which additional 4 teams qualify and take up the remainder of the 13 slots allocated to the European confederation. This proposal will be sent to FIFA for ratification.

Source: UEFA.com

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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.

FIFA Women's Ranking using the Men's system

Update: Fixed a slight error in the ranking.
________________

Big debate on BigSoccer's Women's Soccer forum - one that I never visit :) I was asked to compute the women's ranking using the men's ranking system. As you know, FIFA uses a modified version of the Elo system to compute the women's ranking.

I went back to August 1989 for results and used the release dates used for the men's ranking. I also included the confederation weightings computed using the official (sort of) formula - that was the most time consuming part.

For match importance I used the men's values, with a twist: Olympic final tournaments have the same weight as World Cup final tournaments to mirror the FIFA women's ranking importance of match values.

Two definitions:

Selective ranking = contains only teams active in the last 18 months with permanent (i.e. not provisional) ranking.
Full ranking = all teams.

Both are computed using the men's ranking system.

Only nine teams were in first place from 1993 until now: Norway, China PR, England, Germany, Serbia, Hungary, Korea DPR, Brazil and France.

Germany were on top in 115 releases, followed by Norway who led the rankings on 41 occasions.

Here are the main differences:

Anguilla (104th in the full ranking, 100th in the selective ranking), Niger and Kuwait (148th in the full ranking, 124th in the full ranking) do not appear in the FIFA Women's Ranking.

Top 10 differences for countries with a better selective ranking:

Team - FIFA Women's Ranking - Selective Ranking - Difference

Cuba	99	30	69
Equatorial Guinea	61	12	49
Puerto Rico	107	63	44
Cameroon	66	24	42
Tanzania	123	82	41
Guyana	86	46	40
Namibia	114	76	38
Armenia	108	71	37
Ethiopia	110	74	36
Estonia	74	39	35

Top 10 differences for countries with a better FIFA Women's ranking:

Team - FIFA Women's Ranking - Selective Ranking - Difference

Peru	52	123	-71
Chinese Taipei	36	101	-65
Iran	51	106	-55
Uruguay	69	122	-53
Indonesia	68	117	-49
Kazakhstan	77	112	-35
Chile	44	75	-31
Malaysia	87	118	-31
New Zealand	24	53	-29
Argentina	33	61	-28

Top 50 nations only (in the top 50 in at least one of the rankings)


Top 10 differences for countries with a better selective ranking:

Team - FIFA Women's Ranking - Selective Ranking - Difference

Cuba	99	30	69
Equatorial Guinea	61	12	49
Cameroon	66	24	42
Guyana	86	46	40
Estonia	74	39	35
South Africa	58	34	24
Turkey	65	43	22
Ghana	49	29	20
Ukraine	21	5	16
Austria	40	25	15

Top 10 differences for countries with a better FIFA Women's ranking:

Team - FIFA Women's Ranking - Selective Ranking - Difference

Chinese Taipei	36	101	-65
Chile	44	75	-31
New Zealand	24	53	-29
Argentina	33	61	-28
Slovakia	42	66	-24
Myanmar	44	68	-24
China PR	15	38	-23
Vietnam	32	52	-20
Korea Republic	16	35	-19
Mexico	22	41	-19

Here's the full ranking as of March 9th.

Rank - Team - Points

1	France	1489
2	England	1394
3	Sweden	1331
4	USA	1294
5	Ukraine	1284
6	Norway	1278
7	Spain	1266
8	Brazil	1258
9	Iceland	1196
10	Germany	1191
11	Italy	1180
12	Equatorial Guinea	1089
13	Japan	1086
14	Netherlands	1047
15	Denmark	1034
16	Czech Republic	1032
17	Korea DPR	971
18	Russia	954
19	Canada	902
20	Australia	899
21	Republic of Ireland	883
22	Nigeria	873
23	Scotland	840
24	Cameroon	836
25	Austria	803
26	Hungary	780
27	Finland	761
28	Switzerland	759
29	Ghana	733
30	Belarus	727
30	Cuba	727
32	Portugal	715
33	Poland	713
34	South Africa	699
35	Korea Republic	629
36	Wales	612
37	Belgium	608
38	China PR	592
39	Estonia	581
40	Costa Rica	577
41	Mexico	573
42	Trinidad and Tobago	569
43	Turkey	564
44	Serbia	561
45	Romania	559
46	Guyana	555
47	Colombia	537
48	Bulgaria	518
49	Thailand	512
50	Haiti	484
51	Ecuador	448
52	Vietnam	439
53	New Zealand	427
54	Papua New Guinea	417
55	Tunisia	407
56	Barbados	404
57	Greece	401
58	Northern Ireland	383
59	Israel	378
60	Slovenia	366
61	Algeria	365
62	Argentina	354
63	Venezuela	353
64	Puerto Rico	335
65	India	322
66	Paraguay	321
67	Morocco	312
67	Slovakia	312
69	Myanmar	310
70	Faroe Islands	297
71	Croatia	295
72	Armenia	293
73	Jordan	277
74	Mali	270
75	Ethiopia	269
76	Chile	268
77	Namibia	261
78	St. Lucia	260
79	Cook Islands	254
80	Azerbaijan	239
81	Bahrain	238
82	Guinea	232
83	El Salvador	222
84	Tanzania	210
85	Malta	209
86	Latvia	208
87	Angola	197
88	Guatemala	189
89	Lithuania	188
90	Georgia	185
90	Nepal	185
92	FYR Macedonia	184
93	Tonga	175
94	Congo DR	170
95	Egypt	166
96	Senegal	162
97	Antigua and Barbuda	158
98	Uzbekistan	156
99	Zimbabwe	150
100	Luxembourg	148
101	Côte dIvoire	146
102	Solomon Islands	144
103	Hong Kong	136
104	Anguilla	135
105	Chinese Taipei	131
106	Dominican Republic	127
107	Zambia	124
108	Bangladesh	122
109	Bosnia-Herzegovina	119
109	Congo	119
111	Iran	116
112	Bolivia	113
113	Nicaragua	109
114	Fiji	103
115	United Arab Emirates	100
116	Jamaica	99
117	Tahiti	96
118	Laos	90
119	Eritrea	81
119	Kazakhstan	81
121	St. Kitts and Nevis	78
122	Suriname	75
123	Pakistan	71
124	Sri Lanka	69
125	Palestine	67
126	Indonesia	66
127	Philippines	63
128	Kyrgyzstan	57
129	Malaysia	49
130	Bermuda	37
130	Lebanon	37
132	Singapore	30
133	Sierra Leone	27
134	Botswana	23
135	US Virgin Islands	22
136	Grenada	19
136	Samoa	19
138	Honduras	15
139	Bhutan	13
139	Swaziland	13
141	Maldives	12
142	Afghanistan	10
142	Burkina Faso	10
144	Uruguay	7
145	Peru	6
146	Panama	5
147	American Samoa	4
148	Belize	0
148	British Virgin Islands	0
148	Cayman Islands	0
148	Dominica	0
148	Gabon	0
148	Guam	0
148	Iraq	0
148	Kuwait	0
148	Liberia	0
148	Mozambique	0
148	New Caledonia	0
148	Niger	0
148	Qatar	0
148	St. Vincent and the Grenadines	0
148	Syria	0
148	Turks and Caicos Islands	0
148	Vanuatu	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.

2014 FIFA World Cup: AFC come to their senses

At the end of January 2011, AFC sent a letter to FIFA asking them to change the dates for the 2013 Confederations Cup as it would clash with an official FIFA match date - June 18.

“We request the FIFA Confederations Cup – Brazil 2013 to be scheduled in another period of time that does not clash with the FIFA Official Match Dates already confirmed by FIFA and applied to respective Competition Calendars of different Confederations including AFC,” AFC wrote in a letter to FIFA.

The June 18, 2013 Asian qualifiers is a crucial fourth-round match and is the home stretch for teams looking to book their places in the 2014 FIFA World Cup finals.


Today, AFC came to their senses and announced they will make sure Japan won't have to play on June 18, 2013.

It was also decided to place Japan in position 5 of their group for the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers (final round-Asia) to avert a clash with the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup (June 16-30). Now Japan will have a rest day on June 18 in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers (final round-Asia) that will enable the Asian champions to play in the FIFA Confederations Cup.

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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.

FIFA Ranking: April 2011 probable ranking (II)

I had to publish an update since there were some errors in the fixtures list available on FIFA.com.

Next update: April 1st, 2011.

Probable results computed using the Elo Ratings. See the list of results used for this ranking.

Based on these probable results...

Brazil up to third. Norway up to ninth.

Israel, Afghanistan, Nepal, Cyprus, Turkmenistan and Maldives set to climb 20 or more places.

Northern Ireland, Georgia, Cambodia, Tunisia, Scotland, Iceland, Chinese Taipei and Hungary set to drop 10 or more places.

Probable April 2011 rank - Team - Probable April 2011 points - +/- Ranking - +/- Points 

1	Spain	1857	0	-23
2	Netherlands	1702	0	-28
3	Brazil	1425	2	14
4	Germany	1412	-1	-74
5	Argentina	1317	-1	-95
6	England	1187	0	-25
7	Uruguay	1095	0	-77
8	Portugal	1077	1	17
9	Norway	1073	2	116
10	Croatia	1071	-2	0
11	Greece	1004	-1	-34
12	Russia	994	1	38
13	Japan	961	2	23
14	Serbia	947	6	75
15	Chile	940	-1	-14
16	Slovenia	939	1	23
17	Italy	930	-6	-27
18	Ghana	905	-2	-26
19	France	883	-1	-30
20	Côte d'Ivoire	867	5	43
21	USA	853	-2	-41
22	Australia	847	-1	-23
23	Paraguay	833	1	-2
24	Montenegro	820	1	-4
24	Slovakia	820	-2	-41
26	Switzerland	819	-3	-20
27	Mexico	814	0	3
28	Sweden	802	2	58
29	Turkey	795	3	67
30	Egypt	766	5	81
31	Korea Republic	750	-2	1
32	Denmark	749	-4	-39
33	Czech Republic	722	-2	-17
34	Israel	709	24	177
35	Republic of Ireland	698	-1	-1
36	Ukraine	694	-3	-13
37	Nigeria	637	2	28
37	Romania	637	15	88
39	Cameroon	613	3	33
40	Honduras	603	-2	-17
41	Burkina Faso	600	-1	-5
42	Belarus	592	-5	-42
43	Bulgaria	579	4	21
43	Ecuador	579	6	26
45	Iran	575	-2	1
46	Guinea	559	-2	-10
46	Hungary	559	-10	-95
48	Austria	558	13	34
49	Algeria	551	6	12
49	Lithuania	551	5	10
51	Belgium	550	11	38
51	South Africa	550	-5	-16
53	Costa Rica	542	0	0
54	Colombia	540	-4	-11
55	Jamaica	534	-7	-21
55	Libya	534	16	62
57	Peru	527	2	-3
58	Bosnia-Herzegovina	520	-2	-14
58	Northern Ireland	520	-18	-85
58	Tunisia	520	-13	-48
61	Scotland	517	-11	-34
62	New Zealand	516	-6	-18
63	Gabon	510	-3	-16
64	Morocco	509	2	16
65	Albania	483	8	19
66	Senegal	476	3	-1
67	Panama	473	1	-9
68	Armenia	466	-3	-35
68	Venezuela	466	-5	-39
70	Cyprus	463	21	87
71	Cuba	455	-7	-48
72	Mali	451	13	62
73	Poland	446	-3	-28
74	Latvia	438	1	-10
75	Botswana	431	-8	-56
76	Malawi	430	12	49
77	China PR	422	-1	-17
78	Cape Verde Islands	421	-5	-43
79	Benin	418	1	5
80	Finland	416	-2	-11
81	Uzbekistan	403	-4	-35
82	Uganda	402	4	17
83	FYR Macedonia	398	0	-2
84	Canada	395	0	4
85	Moldova	394	2	11
86	Georgia	392	-14	-77
87	Saudi Arabia	386	-8	-30
88	Iraq	384	1	5
89	Jordan	379	-8	-31
90	Mozambique	375	3	7
91	Estonia	367	-9	-40
91	Qatar	367	-1	-10
93	El Salvador	355	-1	-18
94	Grenada	352	0	-8
95	Angola	346	9	47
96	Trinidad and Tobago	344	-1	-8
96	Zambia	344	1	12
98	Bahrain	338	-2	-6
99	Niger	335	5	36
100	Haiti	334	-1	9
101	Antigua and Barbuda	322	0	9
102	Gambia	317	5	20
103	Bolivia	312	-6	-20
103	Kuwait	312	0	4
105	Syria	297	3	2
106	Sudan	295	0	-3
107	Azerbaijan	287	-7	-33
108	Togo	285	-6	-26
109	Guyana	284	0	0
110	United Arab Emirates	273	1	9
111	Oman	271	-1	-4
112	Suriname	267	2	10
113	Tanzania	266	8	31
114	Central African Republic	263	-2	0
115	Wales	258	1	7
116	Congo DR	254	7	22
117	Korea DPR	252	-4	-7
118	Thailand	236	0	-11
119	Sierra Leone	234	3	1
120	Congo	232	0	-8
121	Rwanda	227	12	52
122	Guatemala	222	3	2
123	Luxembourg	221	-6	-27
124	Ethiopia	218	0	-13
125	Yemen	217	1	-2
126	Iceland	215	-11	-41
127	Zimbabwe	212	0	-1
128	St. Kitts and Nevis	210	-9	-35
129	Indonesia	201	0	0
130	Dominica	193	0	0
131	Kenya	190	-3	-12
132	Barbados	182	5	15
133	Puerto Rico	180	-2	-7
134	Tajikistan	172	14	59
134	Turkmenistan	172	20	78
134	Vietnam	172	0	0
137	Faroe Islands	168	-2	-3
137	Guinea-Bissau	168	-1	0
139	Chad	159	3	24
140	Kazakhstan	151	-8	-27
141	Namibia	150	-1	11
142	Maldives	146	19	65
143	Malaysia	144	-5	-1
144	Singapore	140	-5	-2
145	Hong Kong	138	-4	0
146	India	136	-1	10
147	Myanmar	129	14	48
148	Burundi	127	-4	-6
149	Nepal	126	23	72
150	Curacao	121	-4	6
151	Equatorial Guinea	116	-3	3
151	Liechtenstein	116	-8	-18
151	St. Vincent and the Grenadines	116	-3	3
154	New Caledonia	114	-1	17
155	Fiji	103	-3	0
156	Madagascar	94	0	3
157	Philippines	93	-6	-13
158	Chinese Taipei	91	-11	-23
159	Cayman Islands	90	-1	0
160	Swaziland	89	-1	3
161	Liberia	88	-1	6
162	Kyrgyzstan	87	12	38
163	Belize	81	3	15
164	Bermuda	80	1	6
164	Malta	80	-8	-11
166	Vanuatu	76	-3	0
167	Nicaragua	75	-3	0
168	Cambodia	68	-14	-26
169	Palestine	67	9	27
170	Dominican Republic	66	-4	0
171	Afghanistan	61	24	51
172	Bangladesh	58	2	9
173	Laos	57	-3	0
174	Lesotho	56	-6	-6
175	Lebanon	55	-6	-3
176	Pakistan	54	-5	-2
177	Mongolia	53	6	21
177	Sri Lanka	53	-4	2
179	Tahiti	48	5	17
180	Mauritania	45	-6	-4
181	Eritrea	42	-3	2
182	Solomon Islands	40	-4	0
183	British Virgin Islands	38	-6	-3
184	Macau	35	-3	-4
185	St. Lucia	31	-3	-6
186	Samoa	26	-1	0
187	Somalia	23	-1	0
188	Comoros	19	-1	0
189	Mauritius	18	2	2
190	Cook Islands	17	-2	0
190	Tonga	17	-2	0
192	Djibouti	15	0	0
193	Turks and Caicos Islands	13	0	0
194	Guam	10	-6	-7
194	Seychelles	10	1	0
196	Bhutan	9	1	0
197	Bahamas	8	-4	-5
198	Aruba	7	1	0
199	Brunei Darussalam	6	-2	-3
200	Timor-Leste	3	1	0
200	US Virgin Islands	3	0	-2
202	American Samoa	0	0	0
202	Andorra	0	0	0
202	Anguilla	0	0	0
202	Montserrat	0	0	0
202	Papua New Guinea	0	0	0
202	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.