FIFA Ranking: May 2016 final preview

No matches until the deadline, so this is the final preview. FIFA will publish the ranking on 5 May.

Of course, a very quiet month. Belgium have to thank Romanian journalists for keeping 2nd spot.


Gazeta Sporturilor has discovered Romania made 8 substitutions in a November 2012 friendly, lost by the Belgians 2 - 1. The game has now been removed and Belgium gained 12 points and staved off Chile's run to the 2nd spot in the rankings. I think Gazeta Sporturilor should at least receive some complimentary chocolates from the Belgian FA. :)

The March AFC World Cup qualifiers involving Kuwait have been awarded by FIFA and will impact the May ranking. That's why you see Laos being the best mover.

Best movers:


6 - Laos
3 - St. Vincent and the Grenadines
2 - Dominica

Worst movers:

-14 - Kuwait
-6 - Mauritania

Philippines will again improve their best ever ranking, by climbing 1 place to 115th.

May 2016 rank - Team - May 2016 points - +/- Ranking - +/- Points

1	Argentina	1532	0	0
2	Belgium	1364	0	12
3	Chile	1353	0	5
4	Colombia	1337	0	0
5	Germany	1309	0	0
6	Spain	1277	0	0
7	Brazil	1261	0	10
8	Portugal	1184	0	0
9	Uruguay	1158	0	0
10	England	1069	0	0
11	Austria	1067	0	0
12	Ecuador	1019	0	0
13	Turkey	983	0	0
14	Switzerland	974	0	0
15	Italy	959	0	0
16	Mexico	938	0	4
17	Netherlands	931	0	0
18	Hungary	925	0	0
19	Romania	920	0	-2
20	Bosnia and Herzegovina	913	0	0
21	France	907	0	0
22	Ukraine	880	0	0
23	Croatia	856	0	0
24	Wales	839	0	0
25	Costa Rica	829	0	3
26	Northern Ireland	825	0	0
27	Poland	821	0	0
27	Russia	821	0	0
29	Czech Republic	810	0	0
29	USA	810	0	0
31	Republic of Ireland	792	0	0
32	Slovakia	784	0	0
33	Algeria	771	0	0
34	Côte d'Ivoire	738	0	0
35	Iceland	724	0	0
36	Sweden	713	0	0
37	Greece	695	0	0
38	Ghana	693	0	0
39	Paraguay	688	0	-2
40	Scotland	687	0	0
41	Denmark	686	0	0
42	Iran	672	0	0
43	Senegal	651	0	0
44	Egypt	648	0	0
45	Albania	632	0	0
46	Peru	631	0	6
47	Cape Verde Islands	620	0	0
47	Tunisia	620	0	0
49	Norway	605	0	0
50	Australia	601	0	0
51	Congo DR	596	0	0
52	Panama	593	0	0
53	Trinidad and Tobago	592	0	0
54	Korea Republic	591	2	12
55	Jamaica	585	-1	0
56	Serbia	581	-1	0
57	Japan	577	0	0
58	Guinea	570	0	0
59	Congo	562	0	0
60	Saudi Arabia	559	0	0
61	Finland	558	0	0
61	Slovenia	558	0	0
63	Cameroon	556	0	0
64	Morocco	555	0	0
65	Mali	551	0	0
66	Uzbekistan	549	0	0
67	Nigeria	540	0	6
68	United Arab Emirates	521	0	0
69	Bulgaria	508	0	0
70	South Africa	507	0	0
71	Haiti	502	0	0
72	Uganda	491	0	0
73	Benin	489	0	0
74	Venezuela	476	0	0
75	Burkina Faso	469	0	0
76	Israel	467	0	0
77	Belarus	465	0	0
78	Zambia	457	0	-3
79	Bolivia	440	0	0
80	Cyprus	426	0	0
81	China PR	423	0	0
82	Jordan	418	0	0
83	Equatorial Guinea	416	0	0
83	Qatar	416	0	0
85	Antigua and Barbuda	413	0	0
86	Honduras	406	0	3
87	Rwanda	401	0	0
88	Gabon	395	0	0
89	Guatemala	389	0	2
90	Faroe Islands	383	0	0
91	Botswana	379	0	0
92	St. Kitts and Nevis	368	0	0
93	Estonia	366	0	0
94	Montenegro	365	0	0
95	Canada	357	0	0
96	Central African Republic	355	0	0
97	El Salvador	347	1	0
98	Chad	346	-1	-2
98	Oman	346	1	0
100	Kyrgyzstan	342	0	2
101	Mozambique	338	0	0
102	Guinea-Bissau	336	0	0
103	Togo	334	0	0
104	Iraq	333	1	0
105	Nicaragua	329	1	0
106	Malawi	326	1	0
107	Latvia	323	1	0
108	Liberia	322	1	0
109	Mauritania	321	-6	-13
110	Armenia	316	0	0
110	Syria	316	0	0
112	Korea DPR	314	0	0
112	Libya	314	0	0
114	Belize	307	0	0
115	Philippines	304	1	4
116	Kenya	303	-1	0
117	Kazakhstan	300	-1	0
118	Sierra Leone	298	0	0
119	Thailand	297	0	0
120	Niger	296	0	0
121	Angola	291	0	0
122	Burundi	290	0	0
123	Ethiopia	289	0	0
123	Georgia	289	0	0
125	Cuba	285	0	0
126	Zimbabwe	280	1	-1
127	Turkmenistan	277	1	0
128	Sudan	276	1	0
129	Tanzania	274	1	0
130	Bahrain	271	2	0
130	Palestine	271	1	-2
132	Guyana	270	1	0
133	Azerbaijan	269	1	0
133	Swaziland	269	1	0
135	Namibia	267	1	0
136	Aruba	259	1	0
137	Madagascar	257	1	0
138	Lithuania	254	1	0
139	St. Lucia	247	1	9
140	Kuwait	244	-14	-40
141	FYR Macedonia	235	0	0
141	St. Vincent and the Grenadines	235	5	15
143	Hong Kong	234	-1	0
144	Barbados	231	-1	0
145	Vietnam	228	-1	0
146	Luxembourg	221	-1	0
147	Afghanistan	211	0	1
148	Lesotho	202	0	0
148	Singapore	202	0	0
150	São Tomé e Príncipe	197	0	0
151	Dominican Republic	193	0	0
152	Curaçao	191	0	0
152	Puerto Rico	191	0	0
154	Mauritius	185	0	-3
155	South Sudan	182	0	0
156	Moldova	181	0	0
157	Grenada	179	0	3
158	Lebanon	176	-1	0
159	Comoros	166	0	0
160	Maldives	165	0	0
161	New Zealand	163	0	0
162	Guam	151	0	0
162	India	151	0	0
164	Tajikistan	150	0	1
165	Dominica	149	3	12
165	Malta	149	-1	0
167	Myanmar	147	-1	0
168	Gambia	145	-1	0
169	Bermuda	135	0	0
170	American Samoa	128	0	0
170	Cook Islands	128	0	0
170	Samoa	128	0	0
173	Liechtenstein	120	0	0
174	Malaysia	117	0	-2
175	Timor-Leste	110	0	0
176	Laos	105	6	37
177	Yemen	102	-1	4
178	Bangladesh	87	-1	0
179	Seychelles	83	-1	0
180	Nepal	77	-1	-3
181	Vanuatu	72	-1	0
182	Chinese Taipei	70	-1	0
183	Cambodia	68	-1	0
183	Fiji	68	-1	0
185	Indonesia	65	0	0
186	Bhutan	64	0	0
187	Sri Lanka	58	0	0
188	Montserrat	57	0	0
188	Suriname	57	0	0
190	Pakistan	54	0	0
191	New Caledonia	53	0	0
192	Solomon Islands	46	0	0
193	US Virgin Islands	44	0	0
194	Macau	42	0	0
195	Brunei Darussalam	37	0	0
196	Tahiti	35	0	0
197	Turks and Caicos Islands	33	0	0
198	Papua New Guinea	30	0	0
199	Cayman Islands	21	0	0
200	San Marino	20	0	0
201	British Virgin Islands	14	0	0
202	Andorra	5	0	0
203	Mongolia	4	0	0
204	Anguilla	0	0	0
204	Bahamas	0	0	0
204	Djibouti	0	0	0
204	Eritrea	0	0	0
204	Somalia	0	0	0
204	Tonga	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.