FIFA Ranking: February 2012 final preview

FIFA will publish the ranking on 15 February.

The deadline for matches was yesterday. However, since there's the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, FIFA will move the deadline to Sunday in order to include the final.

Three matches left:

11 Feb Myanmar - Thailand (friendly)
11 Feb Ghana - Mali (2012 ACN 3rd place match)
12 Feb Zambia - Côte d'Ivoire (2012 ACN final)

This is how the totals and rankings can change for these six teams.

Thailand (L: 235 = 136th, D: 238 = 134th , W: 244 = 131st)
Myanmar (L: 95 = 175th, D: 101 = 174th, W: 113 = 168th)

Côte d'Ivoire (L: 943 = 16th, PSO L: 967 = 15th, PSO W: 990 = 13th , W: 1014 = 12th)
Ghana (L: 819 = 23rd, PSO L: 842 = 22nd, PSO W: 864 = 22nd, W: 887 = 21st)

Zambia

L: 567. 58th if Mali win the 3rd place match. 57th otherwise.
PSO L: 599. 48th if Mali win the 3rd place match avoiding PSO. 47th otherwise.
PSO W: 630. 43rd.
W: 661: 40th.

Mali

L: 513. 65th.
PSO L: 550. 58th.
PSO W: 588. 50th if Zambia win the final or lose after PSO. 49th otherwise.
W: 625. 44th if Zambia win the final. 43rd otherwise.

In the table below I have used the minimum values, thus their totals can only rise.

Lots of movement in the top 10:

- Germany will overtake the Netherlands for 2nd in the ranking.
- Portugal will overtake Brazil
- Italy will overtake Croatia
- Denmark will overtake Argentina

Côte d'Ivoire will overtake France for the 5th time since 1993.

Best movers:

46 - Gabon
41 - Equatorial Guinea
28 - Sao Tome e Principe

Gabon could climb 48 places based on the results of Zambia and Mali.

Zambia could climb 31 places if they win the final.

Worst movers:

-25 - Senegal
-24 - Egypt
-13 - Niger

Egypt could fall 25 places if Mali lose the third place match after PSO or win it.


Best movers in the top 50:

46 - Gabon
6 - Wales
4 - Turkey

Worst movers in the top 50:

-25 - Senegal
-24 - Egypt
-11 - Japan

Four teams will improve their best ever ranking:

Armenia (at least 42nd - 44th in September 2011). Could climb to 41st.
Libya (at least 53rd - 58th in April 2011). Could climb to 51st.
El Salvador (at least 54th - 60th in October 1993). Could climb to 52nd.
Sao Tome e Principe (168th - 179th in August 2000).

Côte d'Ivoire could also improve their best ranking with a win in the final.

Three teams will return to their worst ever rankings:

Cyprus (127th - first happened in December 2011)
Solomon Islands (182nd - first happened in April 2011)
Eritrea (190th - first happened in September 2011)

Eight teams will drop to new lows:

Egypt (60th - 44th in July 2002). Could fall to 61st.
Cameroon (66th - 62nd in April 1997)
Bulgaria (88th - 85th in November 2011)
Barbados (169th - 165th in December 2011)
Myanmar (175th - 172nd in December 2011)
Sri Lanka (182nd - 180th in December 2011)
Kyrgyzstan (192nd - 191st in December 2011)
Turks and Caicos Islands (205th - 204th in May 2006)

Myanmar can avoid this with a win against Thailand.

Australia will displace Japan as AFC's 1st team. China PR replace Uzbekistan in the top 5.

African top 3 unchanged. Egypt and Senegal out of the top 5. They will be replaced by two of Gabon, Libya, Zambia and Mali. Zambia can go no higher than 4th.

Honduras out of the CONCACAF top 5, replaced by El Salvador.

Germany replace the Netherlands as 2nd in Europe.

February 2012 rank - Team - February 2012 points - +/- Ranking - +/- Points

1	Spain	1566	0	2
2	Germany	1369	1	24
3	Netherlands	1359	-1	-6
4	Uruguay	1317	0	8
5	England	1179	0	6
6	Portugal	1155	1	55
7	Brazil	1152	-1	9
8	Italy	1115	1	33
9	Croatia	1101	-1	10
10	Denmark	1090	1	58
11	Argentina	1081	-1	14
12	Chile	996	0	23
13	Russia	989	0	18
14	Greece	979	0	15
15	Switzerland	950	1	52
16	Côte d'Ivoire	943	2	54
17	France	930	-2	15
18	Sweden	924	-1	33
19	Bosnia-Herzegovina	920	0	51
20	Republic of Ireland	893	3	29
21	Mexico	882	0	16
22	Australia	832	-1	-34
23	Ghana	819	3	40
24	Norway	793	0	5
25	Serbia	791	2	16
25	Turkey	791	4	22
27	Paraguay	781	0	6
27	Slovenia	781	-2	1
29	Czech Republic	775	2	26
30	Japan	762	-11	-107
31	USA	750	2	29
32	Colombia	746	3	37
33	Peru	743	1	31
34	Korea Republic	714	-4	-38
35	Israel	708	2	43
36	Algeria	684	-4	-50
37	Hungary	678	0	13
38	Slovakia	675	1	27
39	Belgium	663	1	16
40	Ecuador	644	2	10
41	Armenia	639	4	27
42	Wales	635	7	44
43	Gabon	617	48	230
44	Venezuela	615	-3	-27
45	Iran	606	-1	-17
46	Scotland	602	2	3
47	Panama	594	0	-6
48	Jamaica	589	4	16
49	Montenegro	585	1	0
50	Romania	583	5	21
51	Libya	581	12	67
52	El Salvador	576	12	70
52	Estonia	576	0	3
54	Nigeria	573	-9	-39
54	Tunisia	573	5	32
56	Zambia	567	15	108
57	South Africa	559	-1	8
58	Honduras	549	-7	-30
58	Ukraine	549	-4	-19
60	Egypt	545	-24	-153
61	Morocco	543	0	20
62	Costa Rica	539	0	17
63	Sierra Leone	533	-3	0
64	Guinea	517	15	81
65	Mali	513	4	37
66	Cameroon	502	-10	-49
67	Belarus	494	-2	-7
68	Senegal	490	-25	-135
69	Cape Verde Islands	477	-11	-72
70	Poland	470	-2	-24
71	Austria	469	0	10
71	Canada	469	3	14
71	Haiti	469	9	36
74	Latvia	463	-4	-3
75	Burkina Faso	462	-9	-37
76	China PR	456	-2	1
77	Uzbekistan	455	-10	-40
78	Albania	452	-1	2
79	Finland	439	6	34
79	Iraq	439	-6	-18
81	Georgia	436	-5	-15
82	Jordan	431	-1	5
83	Angola	424	2	19
84	Guatemala	422	5	22
85	Trinidad and Tobago	417	-7	-31
86	Northern Ireland	412	1	9
87	Uganda	411	-5	0
88	Bulgaria	408	-5	-2
89	Saudi Arabia	407	-2	4
90	Antigua and Barbuda	405	-6	-2
91	Kuwait	399	4	27
92	Guyana	388	0	2
93	Lithuania	383	0	1
94	Togo	380	6	30
95	Oman	377	-5	-16
96	Qatar	372	1	8
97	Bahrain	366	-2	-6
98	Malawi	362	1	3
99	Zimbabwe	348	3	7
100	Vietnam	347	1	3
101	FYR Macedonia	345	2	10
102	Mozambique	332	3	13
103	Iceland	330	1	5
104	Botswana	328	-10	-45
105	Bermuda	321	1	7
106	Korea DPR	314	1	2
107	Bolivia	309	2	0
108	Rwanda	308	2	4
109	Azerbaijan	306	2	6
110	Equatorial Guinea	305	41	158
111	Niger	302	-13	-59
111	Sudan	302	9	37
113	Puerto Rico	301	-5	-9
114	Lebanon	299	-2	6
115	Gambia	292	3	21
116	Cuba	290	-3	0
117	St. Kitts and Nevis	287	-3	2
118	Faroe Islands	285	-4	0
119	Congo DR	280	-3	4
120	Namibia	271	2	12
120	New Zealand	271	-2	0
122	Syria	270	-5	-5
123	Kenya	267	-2	7
124	Liechtenstein	263	6	17
125	Liberia	258	-2	0
126	Suriname	254	-1	0
127	Cyprus	252	-1	-1
128	Central African Republic	251	0	0
129	Dominican Republic	247	0	0
130	Congo	245	1	0
131	United Arab Emirates	243	7	20
132	Grenada	240	0	-1
132	Luxembourg	240	-5	-12
134	Belize	238	-1	8
135	Benin	237	1	9
136	Thailand	235	-12	-22
137	Ethiopia	230	-4	0
138	Kazakhstan	225	1	5
139	Tanzania	224	-2	-1
140	Tajikistan	218	0	0
141	Chad	207	1	19
142	Moldova	205	-7	-24
143	Burundi	199	-2	0
144	Nicaragua	189	1	24
145	St. Vincent and the Grenadines	172	-1	1
146	Indonesia	161	-3	-22
147	Yemen	159	2	6
148	Singapore	155	-1	-6
149	Turkmenistan	154	-3	-10
150	Malaysia	153	-2	-4
151	Samoa	149	-1	0
152	Nepal	144	1	0
153	Curacao	142	-1	-4
154	Bahamas	141	1	0
154	India	141	4	3
156	Philippines	139	1	0
157	Bangladesh	138	1	0
158	Madagascar	135	2	0
159	Fiji	133	2	0
159	Malta	133	-3	-7
161	Lesotho	131	-8	-13
162	Palestine	128	0	7
163	Hong Kong	126	5	17
163	New Caledonia	126	3	10
165	Aruba	120	-1	0
166	Chinese Taipei	116	1	6
166	Guinea-Bissau	116	-4	-5
168	Sao Tome e Principe	113	28	86
169	Barbados	107	-4	-12
170	Mongolia	106	-1	0
171	Laos	105	3	9
172	Cambodia	104	-2	3
173	Vanuatu	103	1	7
174	Maldives	98	-1	0
175	Dominica	95	-4	-5
175	Myanmar	95	-3	-4
177	Tonga	88	-1	0
178	Afghanistan	85	-1	0
179	Swaziland	83	1	8
180	US Virgin Islands	82	-2	0
181	Pakistan	76	-2	0
182	Solomon Islands	75	-2	0
182	Sri Lanka	75	-2	0
184	Tahiti	73	0	0
185	Cayman Islands	72	-2	-2
186	St. Lucia	65	-1	0
187	American Samoa	61	-1	0
188	Comoros	55	-1	0
189	Seychelles	53	-1	0
190	Eritrea	45	-1	0
191	Somalia	43	-1	0
192	Kyrgyzstan	42	-1	0
193	Guam	36	-1	0
194	Papua New Guinea	34	-1	0
195	Mauritius	32	-1	0
196	Macau	29	1	3
197	Cook Islands	28	-2	0
198	British Virgin Islands	23	0	0
198	Djibouti	23	0	0
200	Anguilla	9	1	0
201	Bhutan	6	1	0
201	Brunei Darussalam	6	1	0
203	Mauritania	4	1	0
204	Timor-Leste	2	1	0
205	Andorra	0	1	0
205	Montserrat	0	1	0
205	San Marino	0	1	0
205	Turks and Caicos Islands	0	-5	-13

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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.