Sort of...
As you perhaps know, when FIFA published the June 2011 ranking, Wales were displayed above Faroe Islands, although Wales have a smaller unrounded total.
Both teams are shown as 45th in Europe. This is sort of funny because as far as I know, FIFA have never done this before. See for instance the December 2008 FIFA Ranking.
France, Portugal, Czech Republic tied for 11th globally, but shown as 9th, 10th and 11th in Europe.
I do know the Latin alphabet and this is not the alphabetical order, as FIFA claim in a statement.
"The teams are tied in 114th place and have been placed in the list on Fifa.com in alphabetical order. This is simply the standard way of listing the teams which are tied.
We are not in a position to speculate on the potential difference of decimal points.
What we can confirm is that the change has been done on Fifa.com due to teams that are tied being listed in alphabetical order. Other teams were also tied and not listed in alphabetical order, something which has now been corrected."
The statement is taken from this BBC article. Thanks John Sinnott - this is the first time I'm mentioned on BBC :)
Congratulations to Jákup Emil Hansen and Rólant Waag Dam. Jákup made the headlines recently in The Telegraph (here and here) and it seems Rólant's articles (couldn't find one now) have pressured the Faroese FA into contacting FIFA about this matter. Even had a short radio interview with Rólant two weeks ago - that was very unexpected.
Speaking of the Faroese FA, I even got a "Thank you" e-mail from Virgar Hvidbro, FAF's general secretary. :)
Once you get past pot 4 I don't think there's that much of a difference for us (Wales) whether we are in pot 5 or 6. Apart from the obvious indignity of it all that the English media (there is no such thing as a Welsh media) will revel in.
ReplyDeleteI would much rather be a pot 6 team in a 6 team group than a pot 5 team in a 5 team group.
Obviously bad qualifying results and no shows by half hearted players have cost us but I also blame the choice of friendlies that have been organised over the past few years.
Great work, at least one person on this entire planet is paying attention to details.
ReplyDeleteAmazing job, who could have thought a nearly unknown blogger could influence something as important as the World Cup?
ReplyDelete@Jim @andresf1984
ReplyDeleteThanks! Well, I don't expect Wales or the Faroe Islands to make it to the final tournament - so not such a big impact after all :)