FIFA Ranking: December 2012 final preview

FIFA will publish the ranking on 19 December.

I've used 16 December as deadline for matches. 17 teams can still change their totals:

Team - Minimum Points - Maximum Points - Worst possible rank - Best possible rank

Haiti	602	734	46	33
Poland	528	553	60	55
Iran	522	532	62	58
Trinidad and Tobago	483	561	72	55
FYR Macedonia	436	480	81	74
Angola	425	436	85	81
Jordan	364	373	99	94
Oman	361	369	99	94
Cuba	278	395	118	90
Saudi Arabia	264	282	127	116
Kuwait	263	281	127	116
Bahrain	260	275	127	118
Lebanon	259	274	127	119
Gambia	186	248	144	132
Syria	179	220	145	139
Palestine	152	168	153	149
Yemen	108	158	164	152

In the table below, the values used for these teams are the minimum possible.

 Best movers:

24 - Burundi
23 - Cuba
15 - Equatorial Guinea and Thailand

Burundi, Equatorial Guinea and Thailand could climb one extra spot. Cuba could climb as much as 51 places in total.

Worst movers:

-23 - Belize
-22 - Bermuda
-20 - Chad

Bermuda and Chad could fall even lower.

Best movers in the top 50:

11 - Haiti
10 - Gabon
9 - Bolivia

Gabon and Bolivia could climb one extra spot. Haiti could climb as much as 24 places in total.

-14 - Iran
-10 - Bulgaria
-8 - Venezuela

Iran could fall 4 more spots, Venezuela 2 more.

Six teams will improve their best ever rankings:

Ecuador (13 - 17 in September 2012)
Mali (25 - 27 in October 2012)
Haiti (46 - 57 in November 2012)
Aruba (152 - 154 in October 2012)
Montserrat (174 - 181 in October 2012)
Timor-Leste (182 - 187 in November 2012)

Côte d'Ivoire will return to their best ever ranking (14 in June 2011).


Cayman Islands will return to their worst ever ranking (192 - 192 in December 2007).

Four teams will drop to new lows:

Brazil (18 - 14 in October 2012)
Saudi Arabia (116 - 113 in October 2012)
Sri Lanka (190 - 186 in March 2012)
Eritrea (196 - 192 in November 2012)

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

1	Spain	1606	0	42
2	Germany	1437	0	16
3	Argentina	1290	0	-59
4	Italy	1165	1	-4
5	Colombia	1164	3	54
6	England	1151	0	-16
7	Portugal	1144	-3	-34
8	Netherlands	1124	-1	-4
9	Russia	1070	0	-14
10	Croatia	1064	0	-14
11	Greece	1033	1	29
12	Switzerland	1004	4	38
13	Ecuador	999	4	48
14	Côte d'Ivoire	995	1	21
15	Mexico	994	-1	10
16	Uruguay	975	-5	-72
17	France	949	1	11
18	Brazil	946	-5	-48
19	Algeria	887	0	-20
20	Sweden	870	3	44
21	Belgium	868	-1	-13
22	Japan	840	2	30
23	Denmark	821	-1	-30
24	Norway	810	2	32
25	Mali	809	3	37
26	Chile	793	-5	-60
27	Bosnia-Herzegovina	788	4	42
28	USA	782	-1	6
29	Czech Republic	781	-4	-25
30	Ghana	777	-1	15
31	Montenegro	756	3	65
32	Hungary	750	-2	-3
33	Romania	700	4	31
34	Zambia	697	5	64
35	Korea Republic	686	-3	-42
36	Australia	668	-3	-51
37	Paraguay	666	-2	-24
38	Serbia	659	4	33
39	Haiti	650	18	97
40	Turkey	627	-2	-12
41	Egypt	615	-1	-12
42	Bolivia	609	9	24
42	Gabon	609	10	28
42	Republic of Ireland	609	-6	-73
45	Tunisia	606	1	-3
46	Peru	603	-2	-8
47	Slovakia	595	-4	-24
47	Ukraine	595	8	20
49	Slovenia	591	0	-2
50	Bulgaria	585	-10	-42
51	Panama	582	-5	-27
52	Central African Republic	581	0	0
52	Nigeria	581	5	28
54	Libya	572	5	27
55	Jamaica	552	-5	-34
56	Venezuela	551	-8	-49
57	Honduras	540	-1	-32
58	Poland	528	-4	-51
59	Guinea	527	12	42
60	Cameroon	523	2	3
61	Iran	522	-17	-89
62	Sierra Leone	521	-1	0
63	Albania	518	4	22
64	Canada	517	-4	-9
65	Belarus	516	9	38
66	Costa Rica	515	-2	6
67	Uzbekistan	513	2	23
68	Trinidad and Tobago	507	11	61
69	Cape Verde Islands	498	-6	-13
70	Austria	492	-2	0
71	Togo	491	2	12
72	Scotland	490	-2	2
73	Georgia	481	-8	-18
74	Morocco	466	-2	-16
75	Armenia	457	7	13
75	Benin	457	2	0
77	Senegal	455	-2	-16
78	Israel	454	0	2
79	Equatorial Guinea	439	16	42
80	Guatemala	438	-4	-29
81	FYR Macedonia	436	2	5
82	Wales	435	-16	-62
83	Finland	431	8	20
84	Uganda	428	2	0
85	Angola	425	-6	-21
85	Estonia	425	-1	-5
87	South Africa	416	-3	-14
88	China PR	410	0	-14
89	Burkina Faso	408	0	-15
90	Iceland	392	6	0
91	New Zealand	390	2	-14
92	Iraq	385	5	-5
93	Dominican Republic	378	-1	-28
94	Northern Ireland	367	6	11
94	United Arab Emirates	367	15	47
96	Qatar	365	8	35
97	Jordan	364	-7	-56
98	Korea DPR	361	-17	-84
98	Oman	361	-12	-67
100	Sudan	349	2	16
100	Zimbabwe	349	-2	-34
102	El Salvador	348	-8	-54
103	Burundi	342	25	87
104	Niger	335	3	11
105	Latvia	334	3	12
106	Congo DR	332	-7	-28
107	New Caledonia	330	-3	0
108	Congo	325	7	16
109	Ethiopia	323	-7	-10
110	Malawi	318	-9	-19
111	Liberia	312	3	0
111	Mozambique	312	-1	-6
113	Suriname	311	12	46
114	Antigua and Barbuda	293	7	12
115	Cuba	288	26	90
116	Lithuania	284	3	-12
117	Azerbaijan	277	6	0
118	Sao Tome e Principe	275	15	35
119	Botswana	274	-2	-25
119	Namibia	274	-2	-25
121	St. Kitts and Nevis	271	-15	-56
122	Guyana	267	-6	-38
123	St. Vincent and the Grenadines	266	3	3
124	Saudi Arabia	264	-12	-49
125	Kuwait	263	-15	-55
126	Bahrain	260	-2	-10
127	Lebanon	259	-15	-54
128	Moldova	255	4	14
129	Turkmenistan	254	0	0
130	Tanzania	253	4	16
131	Vietnam	251	7	34
132	Cyprus	248	-5	-10
132	Puerto Rico	248	-2	0
134	Kenya	246	-4	-2
134	Rwanda	246	-12	-34
136	Tajikistan	233	1	8
136	Thailand	233	16	73
138	Grenada	222	11	56
139	Tahiti	215	0	0
140	Chad	212	-20	-70
141	Kazakhstan	200	-1	0
142	Barbados	197	11	39
143	Gambia	186	-1	0
144	Nicaragua	180	-8	-53
145	Syria	179	2	7
146	Malta	178	3	12
147	Philippines	174	-4	-10
148	Luxembourg	172	-4	-7
149	St. Lucia	168	-3	-7
150	Solomon Islands	166	-1	0
151	Aruba	163	3	9
152	Palestine	152	-4	-16
153	Faroe Islands	151	6	13
154	Liechtenstein	146	3	-1
154	Singapore	146	9	19
156	Indonesia	143	9	19
157	Bermuda	139	-22	-96
158	Malaysia	133	5	6
159	Lesotho	130	-1	-10
159	Maldives	130	1	-5
161	Dominica	124	-6	-27
162	Myanmar	114	-6	-35
163	Hong Kong	112	9	4
164	Yemen	108	-2	-23
165	Vanuatu	99	9	0
166	India	96	3	-20
167	Belize	92	-23	-87
168	Bangladesh	90	3	-24
169	Chinese Taipei	85	7	-5
169	Fiji	85	-2	-36
171	Laos	83	6	-4
171	Nepal	83	-2	-33
173	Samoa	74	-8	-50
174	Bahamas	66	9	0
174	Guinea-Bissau	66	1	-32
174	Montserrat	66	9	0
177	Curacao	65	-16	-69
178	Swaziland	61	7	5
179	Madagascar	55	-6	-51
179	Mongolia	55	7	0
181	Guam	53	0	-18
182	Brunei Darussalam	52	5	0
182	Timor-Leste	52	5	0
184	Cambodia	50	7	1
185	Tonga	44	-8	-43
186	Afghanistan	39	-19	-82
186	US Virgin Islands	39	4	-11
188	Papua New Guinea	38	7	0
189	Pakistan	37	-9	-35
190	Sri Lanka	36	-8	-32
191	British Virgin Islands	34	6	0
192	Cayman Islands	33	-3	-18
193	American Samoa	30	-14	-55
194	Comoros	29	2	-7
195	Somalia	27	-2	-16
196	Eritrea	24	-4	-21
196	Seychelles	24	-2	-15
198	Macau	23	1	1
199	Kyrgyzstan	20	1	0
199	South Sudan	20	1	0
201	Cook Islands	16	-3	-12
202	Djibouti	13	0	-4
202	Mauritius	13	1	0
204	Andorra	11	-1	-2
205	Anguilla	4	0	0
206	Mauritania	3	0	0
207	Bhutan	0	0	0
207	San Marino	0	0	0
207	Turks and Caicos Islands	0	0	0

---

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.