FIFA Ranking: August 2015 preview

FIFA will publish the ranking on 6 August.

I will most likely post the final preview on 31 July, if I'm not on vacation. That's a big if.

13 matches left: the 8 final matches of the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup and a couple of friendlies (actually Indian Ocean Islands Games and East Asian Cup matches).


Team - Minimum points - Maximum points - Worst rank - Best rank

USA	784	911	31	22
Costa Rica	728	912	39	21
Mexico	721	852	40	26
Japan	595	607	59	52
Korea Republic	581	599	60	54
Trinidad and Tobago	563	767	60	34
Jamaica	498	673	68	42
Panama	470	633	73	45
China PR	416	441	81	77
Haiti	387	614	85	49
Cuba	254	464	119	74
Madagascar	230	246	127	122
Korea DPR	213	240	133	123
Maldives	90	115	175	169
Mauritius	59	73	185	179
Seychelles	52	82	186	178
Comoros	50	75	186	178

In the table below I've used the minimum points for these teams.

Best movers:

14 - Mauritania
12 - Albania
9 - Malawi

Worst movers:

-22 - El Salvador
-21 - Serbia
-18 - Benin

Best movers in the top 50:

12 - Albania
3 - USA
2 - Costa Rica, Congo

Of course, both USA and Costa Rica can climb further.

Worst movers in the top 50:

-21 - Serbia
-7 - Netherlands
-5 - Uruguay

6 teams will improve their best ever ranking:

Wales (9 - 10 in July 2015)
Austria (14 - 15 in July 2015)
Slovakia (14 - 15 in July 2015)
Albania (at least 24 - 36 in July 2015)
Congo (at least 45 - 47 in July 2015)
Guam (146 - 154 in July 2015)

Belgium will return to its best ever ranking (2nd - June 2015).

Two teams will drop to new lows:

Serbia (at most 64 - 47 in December 2005)
Bahamas (208 - 200 in July 2015)

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

Romania (7 - 7 in December 1997) - 17 years and 8 months
Mauritania (at least 114 - 114 in March 2008) - 7 years and 5 months
Sudan (at least 88 - 88 in June 2009) - 6 years and 2 months
Swaziland (at least 132 - 131 in May 2010) - 5 years and 3 months
Chile (10 - 10 in September 2010) - 4 years and 11 months
Cyprus (at least 84 - 76 in August 2011) - 4 years
England (8 - 7 in May 2013) - 2 years and 3 months
Canada (at least 102 - 91 in August 2013) - 2 years

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

Georgia (154 - 156 in April 1994) - 21 years and 4 months
Tajikistan (158 - 165 in December 2009) - 5 years and 8 months
Mali (at most 62 - 69 in January 2012) - 3 years and 7 months
Uzbekistan (at most 76 - 77 in February 2012) - 3 years and 6 months
Malta (159 - 159 in February 2012) - 3 years and 6 months
Tanzania (140 - 145 in May 2012) - 3 years and 3 months
South Africa (at most 71 - 85 in January 2013) - 2 years and 7 months
Uruguay (18 - 19 in June 2013) - 2 years and 2 months
Botswana (121 - 127 in June 2013) - 2 years and 2 months
Benin (at most 114 - 115 in July 2013) - 2 years and 1 month

Albania will be ranked above Denmark, Ghana, Russia and Sweden for the first time ever.
Anguilla will be ranked above Bahamas for the first time ever.
Belgium will be ranked above Germany for the first time ever.
Bhutan will be ranked above Indonesia for the first time ever.
Congo will be ranked above Serbia for the first time ever.
Equatorial Guinea will be ranked above Serbia for the first time ever.
Congo DR will be ranked above Serbia for the first time in the last 18 years and 11 months.
Albania will be ranked above Bosnia-Herzegovina for the first time in the last 14 years and 7 months.
Austria will be ranked above Uruguay for the first time in the last 14 years and 2 months.
Andorra will be ranked above Bahamas for the first time in the last 9 years.

August 2015 rank - Team - July 2015 points - +/- Ranking - +/- Points

1	Argentina	1425	0	-48
2	Belgium	1244	1	0
3	Germany	1226	-1	-185
4	Colombia	1218	0	1
5	Brazil	1186	1	0
6	Portugal	1177	1	0
7	Romania	1166	1	0
8	England	1157	1	0
9	Wales	1155	1	0
10	Chile	1124	1	-5
11	Spain	1110	1	0
12	Netherlands	1032	-7	-172
13	Croatia	1023	1	0
14	Austria	1016	1	0
14	Slovakia	1016	1	0
16	Italy	1001	1	0
17	Switzerland	997	1	0
18	Uruguay	988	-5	-48
19	Algeria	941	0	0
20	Czech Republic	933	0	0
21	Côte d'Ivoire	912	0	-5
22	Albania	888	14	166
23	France	882	-1	0
24	Iceland	877	-1	0
25	Denmark	876	-1	0
26	Ghana	827	-1	0
27	Bosnia-Herzegovina	819	-1	0
28	Ukraine	791	-1	0
28	USA	791	6	43
30	Russia	782	-2	0
31	Scotland	774	-2	0
32	Poland	769	-2	0
33	Tunisia	768	-1	10
34	Hungary	763	-3	0
35	Ecuador	758	0	20
36	Sweden	752	-3	0
37	Costa Rica	728	4	33
38	Senegal	722	1	7
39	Mexico	721	1	24
39	Northern Ireland	721	-2	0
41	Iran	718	-3	2
42	Cameroon	667	0	-5
43	Congo	666	4	36
44	Greece	661	0	0
45	Turkey	627	3	0
46	Slovenia	626	3	0
47	Israel	620	4	0
48	Venezuela	617	-3	-26
49	Peru	612	-3	-23
50	Cape Verde Islands	608	2	0
50	Republic of Ireland	608	2	0
52	Egypt	606	3	0
53	Nigeria	601	4	0
54	Japan	595	-4	-26
55	Paraguay	588	1	-15
56	Korea Republic	581	-4	-27
57	Trinidad and Tobago	566	7	23
58	Congo DR	555	2	0
59	Guinea	552	-1	-39
60	Australia	551	-1	-8
61	Equatorial Guinea	546	2	0
62	Mali	545	-1	-5
63	Gabon	544	2	20
64	Serbia	523	-21	-139
65	Bolivia	515	1	4
66	Jamaica	502	10	65
67	Norway	495	0	0
68	Bulgaria	489	0	0
69	United Arab Emirates	484	0	-3
70	Burkina Faso	482	2	1
71	South Africa	478	-1	-5
72	Panama	470	-10	-79
73	Zambia	465	-2	-17
74	Uganda	463	-1	-4
75	Faroe Islands	456	-1	0
76	Uzbekistan	452	-1	-1
77	Montenegro	423	4	0
78	Estonia	420	4	0
79	China PR	416	-2	-20
80	Togo	415	3	0
81	Honduras	409	-1	-18
82	Cyprus	391	3	0
82	Morocco	391	2	-3
84	Haiti	387	-5	-41
85	Iraq	386	1	4
86	Latvia	377	1	0
87	Sudan	375	3	4
88	Armenia	373	1	0
89	Angola	371	3	16
89	Finland	371	1	0
91	Rwanda	369	-13	-64
92	Jordan	357	0	2
93	Saudi Arabia	351	-1	-4
94	Libya	345	2	0
95	Qatar	344	1	-1
96	Belarus	341	4	0
97	Mozambique	339	-2	-15
98	Malawi	335	10	33
99	Ethiopia	330	2	-3
99	Oman	330	3	1
101	Canada	323	2	-5
102	Niger	312	-6	-33
103	FYR Macedonia	311	2	0
104	Sierra Leone	304	7	4
105	Antigua and Barbuda	303	2	0
106	Azerbaijan	302	2	0
107	Lithuania	301	3	0
108	Guatemala	299	-3	-12
108	Zimbabwe	299	4	9
110	El Salvador	289	-22	-85
111	Namibia	284	3	8
112	Bahrain	282	1	0
113	Mauritania	273	15	49
114	Benin	269	-18	-76
115	St. Vincent and the Grenadines	268	0	0
116	Kenya	266	0	3
117	Syria	259	0	-3
118	Palestine	255	1	0
119	Cuba	254	-15	-59
119	St. Kitts and Nevis	254	1	0
121	Botswana	253	-1	-1
122	Belize	242	-4	-15
123	Philippines	239	1	3
124	Kuwait	237	-1	-5
125	Moldova	236	-1	0
126	Madagascar	230	-4	-20
127	Lesotho	229	4	12
128	Dominican Republic	224	-2	-3
129	Lebanon	223	1	5
130	St. Lucia	220	-3	-5
131	Burundi	218	0	1
131	Swaziland	218	7	12
133	Korea DPR	213	-4	-9
134	Afghanistan	212	0	0
135	Bermuda	209	1	0
135	New Zealand	209	1	0
137	Aruba	201	-2	-10
138	Barbados	198	3	0
139	Thailand	197	1	-2
140	Tanzania	194	-1	-6
141	Kazakhstan	193	1	0
142	Gambia	191	1	3
142	Guinea-Bissau	191	-9	-22
144	Nicaragua	188	-1	0
145	Luxembourg	187	1	0
146	Guam	185	8	22
147	Liechtenstein	182	0	0
148	Curaçao	173	1	-1
149	Turkmenistan	172	3	5
150	Puerto Rico	169	0	0
151	Hong Kong	168	3	5
152	Guyana	167	7	12
153	Vietnam	166	-10	-22
154	Georgia	165	-1	0
155	Singapore	162	-5	-7
156	India	160	0	-1
156	Kyrgyzstan	160	1	0
158	Tajikistan	159	-10	-22
159	Malta	157	-1	0
160	Grenada	153	0	0
161	Liberia	150	0	-2
162	Myanmar	142	0	-3
163	Timor-Leste	130	2	0
164	Bhutan	128	2	0
165	Indonesia	124	-1	-10
165	Suriname	124	-2	-17
167	New Caledonia	118	0	0
168	Malaysia	116	0	-1
169	Central African Republic	111	1	0
170	Bangladesh	102	-1	-13
171	Pakistan	101	1	0
172	Chad	100	1	0
173	Dominica	98	1	0
174	Yemen	96	-3	-8
175	Maldives	90	1	3
176	US Virgin Islands	88	-1	-9
177	Laos	86	0	0
178	Montserrat	74	0	0
179	Chinese Taipei	72	0	0
180	Cambodia	66	1	0
181	Sri Lanka	62	2	0
182	Brunei Darussalam	61	2	0
183	Mauritius	59	-3	-12
184	Nepal	57	1	-3
185	Seychelles	52	1	0
186	Comoros	50	1	-1
186	Tahiti	50	2	0
188	Macau	49	-7	-17
189	Cayman Islands	48	0	0
189	São Tomé e Príncipe	48	0	0
191	Solomon Islands	47	0	3
192	San Marino	40	0	0
193	Turks and Caicos Islands	33	0	0
194	British Virgin Islands	27	0	0
195	South Sudan	22	0	-2
196	Vanuatu	20	1	3
197	Samoa	19	-1	0
198	Fiji	17	1	1
198	Tonga	17	-1	0
200	American Samoa	12	1	0
201	Andorra	9	1	0
201	Papua New Guinea	9	1	0
203	Eritrea	8	1	0
204	Mongolia	6	1	0
204	Somalia	6	1	0
206	Cook Islands	4	1	0
206	Djibouti	4	1	0
208	Anguilla	0	1	0
208	Bahamas	0	-8	-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.