FIFA Ranking: January 2014 final preview

I expect FIFA to include all 2014 CHAN matches in the February ranking.

Albania will overtake Norway for the first time ever.
Tajikistan will overtake Iraq for the first time ever.

Best movers:

13 - Saudi Arabia
10 - Egypt
9 - South Africa



Worst movers:

-8 - Gabon
-7 - Jordan and Gambia
-6 - Syria

Best movers in the top 50:

10 - Egypt
4 - Cape Verde Islands and Tunisia
3 - Mali

Worst movers:

-4 - Scotland, Armenia and Venezuela
-2 - Peru, Turkey and Hungary

One team will improve its best ever ranking:

Cape Verde Islands (35 - 36 in August 2013)

One team will return to its worst ever ranking:

Norway (59 - 59 in December 2008)

One team will fall to new lows:

Yemen (180 - 179 in December 2013)

Some teams will reach their best ranking in the last couple of years:

Myanmar (129 - 126 in March 2001) - 12 years and 10 months
United Arab Emirates (63 - 59 in August 2002) - 11 years and 5 months
Liberia (97 - 96 in May 2003) - 10 years and 8 months
Malta (130 - 124 in September 2007) - 6 years and 4 months
Oman (79 - 79 in December 2009) - 4 years and 1 month
Hong Kong (137 - 136 in September 2010) - 3 years and 4 months
Saudi Arabia (74 - 68 in November 2010) - 3 years and 2 months
Egypt (31 - 31 in December 2011) - 2 years and 1 month
South Africa (53 - 52 in December 2011) - 2 years and 1 month

Others will drop to their worst ever ranking in the last couple of years:

Iraq (115 - 129 in November 1996) - 17 years and 2 months
Guyana (151 - 162 in May 2006) - 7 years and 8 months
Norway (59 - 59 in January 2009) - 5 years
Georgia (102 - 110 in August 2010) - 3 years and 5 months
St. Kitts and Nevis (150 - 151 in September 2010) - 3 years and 4 months
St. Vincent and the Grenadines (155 - 158 in September 2011) - 2 years and 4 months
Gabon (85 - 91 in January 2012) - 2 years

Myanmar will be ranked above Syria for the first time in the last 15 years and 4 months.
United Arab Emirates will be ranked above Republic of Ireland for the first time in the last 15 years and 1 month.
United Arab Emirates will be ranked above Finland for the first time in the last 14 years.
South Africa will be ranked above Korea Republic for the first time in the last 10 years and 4 months.
South Africa will be ranked above Norway for the first time in the last 9 years and 11 months.
South Africa will be ranked above Australia for the first time in the last 8 years and 2 months.
Cape Verde Islands will be ranked above Peru for the first time in the last 7 years and 2 months.
Tunisia will be ranked above Japan for the first time in the last 6 years and 5 months.
Congo DR will be ranked above Belarus for the first time in the last 6 years and 3 months.

January 2014 rank - Team - January 2014 points - +/- Ranking - +/- Points

1	Spain	1507	0	0
2	Germany	1318	0	0
3	Argentina	1251	0	0
4	Colombia	1200	0	0
5	Portugal	1172	0	0
6	Uruguay	1132	0	0
7	Italy	1120	0	0
8	Switzerland	1113	0	0
9	Netherlands	1106	0	0
10	Brazil	1102	0	0
11	Belgium	1098	0	0
12	Greece	1055	0	0
13	England	1041	0	0
14	USA	1019	0	0
15	Chile	1005	0	-9
16	Croatia	971	0	0
17	Côte d'Ivoire	912	0	-6
18	Ukraine	907	0	0
19	Bosnia-Herzegovina	899	0	0
20	France	893	0	0
21	Mexico	892	0	0
22	Russia	870	0	0
23	Ecuador	852	0	0
24	Ghana	851	0	2
25	Denmark	831	0	0
26	Sweden	793	1	0
27	Algeria	792	-1	-8
28	Czech Republic	766	0	0
29	Slovenia	762	0	0
30	Serbia	752	0	0
31	Egypt	748	10	53
32	Costa Rica	743	-1	2
33	Romania	734	-1	0
34	Iran	727	-1	7
35	Cape Verde Islands	726	4	28
36	Panama	722	2	17
37	Nigeria	719	0	9
38	Scotland	717	-4	0
39	Armenia	716	-4	0
40	Venezuela	715	-4	4
41	Peru	698	-2	0
42	Mali	694	3	30
43	Honduras	692	-1	2
44	Tunisia	689	4	57
45	Turkey	677	-2	0
46	Hungary	668	-2	0
47	Austria	648	-1	0
48	Japan	641	-1	3
49	Iceland	624	0	0
50	Cameroon	616	0	1
51	Paraguay	607	0	7
52	Montenegro	594	0	0
53	Burkina Faso	585	0	-6
53	South Africa	585	9	31
55	Korea Republic	581	-1	4
56	Wales	574	0	0
57	Albania	571	0	0
57	Australia	571	1	6
59	Norway	558	-5	-19
60	Slovakia	557	0	0
61	Guinea	555	0	0
62	Libya	552	-3	-6
63	Israel	548	0	0
63	United Arab Emirates	548	8	41
65	Uzbekistan	546	3	20
66	Finland	539	-2	0
67	Republic of Ireland	528	0	0
68	Senegal	526	-3	-10
69	Bolivia	519	1	0
69	Zambia	519	0	-4
71	Togo	509	1	5
72	Jordan	504	-7	-32
73	Morocco	501	0	11
74	Saudi Arabia	487	13	96
75	Bulgaria	486	-1	0
76	Sierra Leone	464	-1	-7
77	Poland	461	-1	0
78	Trinidad and Tobago	441	0	0
79	Haiti	440	0	0
79	Oman	440	6	32
81	Congo DR	439	1	12
81	Jamaica	439	-1	0
83	Belarus	431	-2	0
84	FYR Macedonia	425	-1	0
85	Congo	421	-1	0
85	Gabon	421	-8	-32
87	Uganda	401	-1	-1
88	El Salvador	395	2	17
89	Angola	384	-1	0
90	Northern Ireland	381	-1	0
91	New Zealand	378	-1	0
92	China PR	376	0	0
93	Estonia	366	1	3
94	Azerbaijan	363	0	0
95	Ethiopia	361	-2	-13
96	Moldova	359	0	0
97	Botswana	354	0	-3
97	Liberia	354	1	0
99	Benin	335	0	-7
100	Cuba	334	0	0
101	Qatar	333	2	8
102	Georgia	330	-1	0
103	Lithuania	326	-1	0
104	Niger	318	0	0
105	Zimbabwe	313	2	14
106	Kuwait	311	-1	-4
107	Central African Republic	310	-1	0
108	Equatorial Guinea	309	0	15
109	Kenya	304	0	11
110	Bahrain	299	0	7
111	Canada	291	1	0
112	Guatemala	286	1	-1
113	Tajikistan	285	1	-1
114	Dominican Republic	282	1	0
115	Iraq	280	-5	-12
116	Latvia	272	0	0
117	Malawi	265	-1	-7
117	Mozambique	265	1	1
119	Tanzania	261	1	5
120	Sudan	258	-1	-1
121	New Caledonia	249	0	0
122	Luxembourg	243	1	0
123	Lebanon	236	-2	-13
124	Burundi	230	0	-9
125	Cyprus	229	1	0
125	Namibia	229	0	-8
127	Philippines	219	0	0
128	Kazakhstan	216	0	0
129	Myanmar	204	1	0
130	Malta	198	2	0
130	Rwanda	198	3	1
132	Suriname	197	1	0
133	Turkmenistan	195	2	0
134	Grenada	194	2	0
135	Korea DPR	188	3	1
135	Syria	188	-6	-19
137	Hong Kong	185	3	1
138	Afghanistan	184	2	0
138	Gambia	184	-7	-18
138	Lesotho	184	0	-3
141	Tahiti	179	2	0
142	Palestine	174	-5	-18
143	Vietnam	166	1	-1
144	Antigua and Barbuda	164	1	0
145	Mauritania	161	-3	-19
146	Kyrgyzstan	155	1	0
146	St. Lucia	155	1	0
148	Thailand	153	-2	-9
149	Singapore	152	1	3
150	St. Kitts and Nevis	150	-1	0
151	Guyana	149	-1	0
152	Belize	146	7	10
153	Laos	144	-1	0
154	Malaysia	143	0	2
155	St. Vincent and the Grenadines	142	-2	0
156	India	141	-2	0
156	Liechtenstein	141	-2	0
156	Puerto Rico	141	-2	0
159	Nicaragua	137	1	7
160	Sao Tome e Principe	126	-2	-13
161	Indonesia	124	0	1
162	Guam	123	-1	0
163	Maldives	120	0	0
164	Bangladesh	116	0	0
164	Chad	116	0	0
166	Barbados	101	0	0
167	Chinese Taipei	95	0	0
167	Dominica	95	0	0
169	Sri Lanka	90	0	0
170	Aruba	87	0	0
170	Faroe Islands	87	0	0
172	Nepal	86	0	0
172	Pakistan	86	0	0
172	Solomon Islands	86	0	0
175	Bermuda	83	0	0
176	Seychelles	67	0	0
177	Mauritius	66	0	0
178	Curacao	65	0	0
179	Vanuatu	53	1	0
180	Yemen	50	-1	-4
181	Mongolia	49	0	0
182	Fiji	47	0	0
183	Samoa	45	0	0
184	Guinea-Bissau	42	0	0
185	Bahamas	40	0	0
186	Swaziland	37	0	0
187	Madagascar	33	0	0
187	Montserrat	33	0	0
189	Cambodia	28	0	0
190	Brunei Darussalam	26	0	0
190	Timor-Leste	26	0	0
190	Tonga	26	0	0
193	US Virgin Islands	23	0	0
194	Cayman Islands	21	0	0
194	Papua New Guinea	21	0	0
196	American Samoa	18	0	0
196	British Virgin Islands	18	0	0
198	Andorra	17	0	0
198	Comoros	17	0	0
200	Eritrea	11	0	0
201	Macau	10	0	0
201	South Sudan	10	0	0
203	Somalia	8	0	0
204	Djibouti	6	0	0
205	Cook Islands	5	0	0
206	Anguilla	3	0	0
207	Bhutan	0	0	0
207	San Marino	0	0	0
207	Turks and Caicos Islands	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.