FIFA ranking: January 2015 preview and probable ranking

FIFA will publish the ranking on January 8th, forced by the AFC Asian Cup kicking off a day later.

Only 16 matches - all friendlies. Of course, there's the return leg of the AFF Championship, but that's a friendly as far as FIFA are concerned.

The top 44 is already set - and the same as this month.

This is how the points and rankings could change:

Team - Minimum Points - Maximum Points - Worst Rank - Best Rank

Zambia	594	632	50	45
South Africa	559	587	54	51
Iran	550	589	56	51
Korea Republic	471	487	70	69
Uzbekistan	416	477	79	69
Estonia	382	406	84	80
United Arab Emirates	380	411	84	80
Oman	349	367	96	88
Jordan	346	409	96	80
China PR	321	341	103	95
Qatar	319	359	103	89
Saudi Arabia	318	356	103	91
Iraq	252	373	122	86
Palestine	250	296	123	108
Bahrain	237	292	126	110
Kuwait	229	266	127	114
Thailand	182	193	144	142
Malaysia	129	139	157	154

I've used the minimum values in the ranking table below.

Here's the list of probable results. They are generated using the Elo Ratings.

Before posting comments like: "Hey my team actually beat the other team! It's a mistake!" please read the previous paragraph again and look when these results were posted (Yes, before the matches actually took place!) ;)

1 - First team wins
X - Draw
2 - Second team wins

20/Dec Malaysia - Thailand 2 (Friendly)
21/Dec China PR - Palestine 1 (Friendly)
21/Dec Uzbekistan - Jordan 1 (Friendly)
22/Dec Iraq - Kuwait X (Friendly)
25/Dec Uzbekistan - Iraq 1 (Friendly)
27/Dec Qatar - Estonia 1 (Friendly)
28/Dec Iran - Palestine 1 (Friendly)
28/Dec Uzbekistan - Iraq 1 (Friendly)
30/Dec Bahrain - Saudi Arabia X (Friendly)
30/Dec United Arab Emirates - Jordan 1 (Friendly)
31/Dec Qatar - Oman X (Friendly)
03/Jan Kuwait - United Arab Emirates 2 (Friendly)
04/Jan Iran - Iraq 1 (Friendly)
04/Jan Jordan - Bahrain X (Friendly)
04/Jan Korea Republic - Saudi Arabia 1 (Friendly)
04/Jan South Africa - Zambia 1 (Friendly)

Probable January 2015 rank - Team - Probable January 2015 points - +/- Ranking - +/- Points

1	Germany	1725	0	0
2	Argentina	1538	0	0
3	Colombia	1450	0	0
4	Belgium	1417	0	0
5	Netherlands	1374	0	0
6	Brazil	1316	0	0
7	France	1160	0	0
7	Portugal	1160	0	0
9	Spain	1142	0	0
10	Uruguay	1135	0	0
11	Italy	1103	0	0
12	Switzerland	1091	0	0
13	England	1032	0	0
14	Chile	1016	0	-6
15	Romania	1014	0	0
16	Costa Rica	995	0	-2
17	Czech Republic	987	0	0
18	Algeria	948	0	0
19	Croatia	946	0	0
20	Mexico	913	0	0
21	Slovakia	891	0	0
22	Tunisia	873	0	6
23	Austria	863	0	0
24	Greece	856	0	0
25	Ukraine	854	0	0
26	Ecuador	852	0	0
27	USA	836	0	0
28	Côte d'Ivoire	833	0	0
29	Bosnia-Herzegovina	817	0	0
30	Denmark	804	0	0
31	Russia	789	0	0
32	Israel	788	0	0
33	Iceland	761	0	0
34	Wales	748	0	0
35	Senegal	734	0	0
36	Scotland	729	0	0
37	Ghana	714	0	0
38	Serbia	713	0	0
39	Guinea	706	0	0
40	Cape Verde Islands	693	0	0
41	Poland	680	0	0
42	Cameroon	665	0	0
43	Nigeria	654	0	-2
44	Sweden	646	0	0
45	Hungary	632	0	0
46	Slovenia	622	1	0
47	Northern Ireland	615	1	0
48	Turkey	604	1	0
49	Mali	603	1	0
50	Zambia	594	-4	-31
51	Iran	589	0	9
52	South Africa	587	0	8
53	Peru	565	0	0
54	Japan	563	0	0
55	Trinidad and Tobago	551	0	0
55	Panama	551	2	4
57	Congo DR	548	-1	0
58	Albania	543	0	0
59	Montenegro	537	0	0
60	Egypt	531	0	0
61	Congo	529	0	0
62	Togo	527	0	3
62	Gabon	527	3	16
64	Burkina Faso	523	-1	0
65	Republic of Ireland	519	-1	0
66	Bulgaria	506	0	0
67	Norway	500	0	0
68	Rwanda	494	0	0
69	Korea Republic	487	0	6
70	Uzbekistan	477	4	23
71	Finland	468	-1	0
72	Honduras	460	-1	-1
73	Guatemala	458	-1	0
73	Haiti	458	-1	0
75	Jamaica	449	0	0
76	Paraguay	442	0	4
77	Uganda	441	-1	3
78	Libya	437	0	0
79	Armenia	436	0	0
80	United Arab Emirates	411	1	18
81	Angola	404	-1	9
82	Morocco	393	-1	0
83	Estonia	382	1	-8
84	Bolivia	375	1	0
85	Sierra Leone	374	1	0
86	Cyprus	372	1	0
87	Venezuela	371	1	2
88	Malawi	361	2	3
89	Benin	359	0	-2
90	El Salvador	358	0	0
91	Lithuania	355	1	0
91	Oman	355	2	8
93	Jordan	351	-12	-42
94	Qatar	347	1	5
95	Antigua and Barbuda	344	-1	0
96	China PR	341	1	5
97	Latvia	339	-1	0
98	Mozambique	332	0	0
99	Belarus	331	0	0
100	Australia	329	0	5
101	FYR Macedonia	327	-1	3
102	Saudi Arabia	323	0	0
103	Faroe Islands	317	1	0
104	Tanzania	315	1	1
105	Dominican Republic	310	1	0
106	Botswana	308	1	-1
107	Zimbabwe	301	1	-7
108	Sudan	296	2	2
109	Ethiopia	294	2	4
110	Namibia	291	-1	-4
111	Canada	287	1	0
112	Cuba	271	1	0
113	Liberia	268	2	0
114	Kenya	262	2	1
115	Equatorial Guinea	260	5	9
116	Niger	259	0	-2
117	Iraq	258	-14	-62
117	St. Kitts and Nevis	258	1	0
119	St. Vincent and the Grenadines	256	0	0
120	Bahrain	255	2	6
121	Lebanon	251	5	13
122	Palestine	250	-9	-21
122	Moldova	250	-1	0
124	Lesotho	245	-1	-2
125	Georgia	239	0	0
126	Kuwait	235	-2	-11
127	Luxembourg	230	1	0
128	Burundi	227	-1	-5
129	Aruba	221	0	0
129	Philippines	221	1	1
131	Maldives	220	-1	0
132	Liechtenstein	219	0	0
133	Guinea-Bissau	218	0	0
133	Vietnam	218	4	7
135	New Zealand	216	-1	0
136	Azerbaijan	215	-1	0
136	Tajikistan	215	-1	0
138	Mauritania	213	-1	2
139	Kazakhstan	205	0	0
140	St. Lucia	202	0	0
141	Myanmar	200	0	0
142	Thailand	193	0	-1
143	Afghanistan	190	0	0
144	Barbados	183	0	0
145	Central African Republic	178	0	0
146	Chad	172	0	0
147	Madagascar	166	0	0
147	Malta	166	0	0
147	Turkmenistan	166	0	0
150	Korea DPR	157	0	1
151	Syria	156	0	2
152	Kyrgyzstan	146	0	0
153	New Caledonia	142	0	0
154	Grenada	137	1	0
155	Hong Kong	134	1	0
156	Singapore	133	1	2
157	Malaysia	129	-3	-9
158	Curaçao	125	0	0
159	Indonesia	122	0	-1
160	Laos	121	0	0
161	Guam	119	0	0
161	Puerto Rico	119	0	0
163	Suriname	115	0	0
164	Swaziland	113	0	0
165	Bangladesh	103	0	0
166	Tahiti	100	0	0
167	Guyana	92	0	0
168	Gambia	90	0	0
169	Montserrat	86	0	0
170	Sao Tome e Principe	84	0	0
171	India	79	0	0
172	Sri Lanka	78	0	0
173	Comoros	75	0	0
173	Nicaragua	75	0	0
175	Belize	74	0	0
176	Yemen	67	0	-2
177	Turks and Caicos Islands	66	0	0
178	Seychelles	61	0	0
179	Bermuda	55	0	0
179	Cambodia	55	0	0
179	San Marino	55	0	0
182	Chinese Taipei	54	0	0
183	Solomon Islands	53	0	0
184	Dominica	52	0	0
185	Timor-Leste	51	0	0
186	Macau	49	0	0
186	Nepal	49	0	0
188	Pakistan	45	0	0
189	South Sudan	43	0	0
190	Mauritius	36	0	0
191	Vanuatu	33	0	0
192	Fiji	30	0	0
192	Samoa	30	0	0
194	Mongolia	29	0	0
195	Bahamas	26	0	0
196	Tonga	17	0	0
197	US Virgin Islands	16	0	0
198	Brunei Darussalam	15	0	0
199	Papua New Guinea	13	0	0
200	American Samoa	12	0	0
201	Andorra	9	0	0
202	British Virgin Islands	8	0	0
202	Eritrea	8	0	0
204	Somalia	6	0	0
205	Cayman Islands	5	0	0
206	Cook Islands	4	0	0
206	Djibouti	4	0	0
208	Anguilla	2	0	0
209	Bhutan	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.