Here are the scheduled matches counting for the FIFA February 2021 ranking with FIFA's Home Team Win Expectancy (We) in % and the points exchanged in case of Win, Draw or Loss of the home team. In cases where matches can go to PSO, also the points exchanged when the home team wins (PSO-W) of loses (PSO-L) the penalty shoot-out are given.
The 1 or 0 before each match indicates if the match is included (1) or not (0) according to my inclusion-method.
Here are the minimum and maximum points for each team in the February 2021 ranking. FIFA will publish the ranking on February 18th.
Minimum and maximum points per team are determined with a small piece of software which calculates per match the minimum and maximum possible points for each participating team, given the minimum and maximum starting values of both teams before the match.
Note that only scheduled (and included) matches with both teams known at calculation time are incorporated in this analysis.
Here are the probable results of all currently scheduled matches up to and including February 14th, used to calculate the February 2021 probable ranking. The results are generated using elo ratings.
Also the already played matches since last December 7th, (probably) counting for the February ranking, are presented.
As usual the February ranking does not include matches played in an official FIFA international match window. And this year only the African Nations Championship is scheduled from today in Cameroon. Not to be confused with the continental showpiece African Cup of Nations, for the 16 teams in this tournament only players playing in domestic African competitions can be selected. Especially the top dogs in African football with all their stars playing in other continents are severely weakened by this rule, so traditional powerhouses are not to be overestimated (if they could qualify for this tournament in the first place). The matches do count for the FIFA ranking though, but only as friendlies.
There are a few preparatory friendlies played for this tournament, but it is yet unclear if they will be included in the FIFA ranking or not. For now they are excluded.
The European teams will have a busy schedule this year. The qualification groups for the World Cup 2022 in 10 MD's will start in March and be played to a finish in November. There are 10 groups with the group winners qualifying directly for Qatar. The 10 group runners-up will compete with the two best UNL group winners, not qualified already, in 3 play-off paths of 4 teams for the final 3 UEFA berths. These single leg semi-final and final play-offs will be played in March 2022.
In October the UEFA Nations League 2021 Final Four will be played between the league A group winners Italy, Belgium, France and Spain.
And not to forget: this June the postponed EURO 2020 will be played, still with the same match schedule and in the same 12 venues, spread across Europe. Last November the last four participants (Hungary, Slovakia, Scotland and North Macedonia) came through the qualification finals.
Only a single match was played in the Asian qualification for the World Cup last year. The last four match days of the second round are rescheduled now for the coming March and June windows. After the Summer round three, consisting of 2 groups of 6 teams, will commence. The 12 qualified teams will be put in 6 pots of two. Which FIFA ranking (June or July) is used for seeding is yet unknown, because the publication schedule for 2021 is not yet published.
The AFC managed to keep the same qualification format. The matches for round three are now scheduled from September until March 2022. And the next step -where the Asian number 5 is determined between the two group numbers 3- is scheduled in June 2022 as a single match now. In that same June window the interconfederational play-offs (with the Asian number 5) are staged.
CONMEBOL started with their World Cup qualifiers. They played 4 MD's in October and November last year.
Here are the probabilities (in %) of the complete qualifying campaign for CONMEBOL teams, including the complete Copa America 2021 (now scheduled for this June) along the road -generated over 10.000 simulations- with all match results based on NT prediction formula's for goals scored in a match depending on elo win expectancy.
Forced by the COVID-19 pandemic CONCACAF has adjusted their initially proposed qualification format for the World Cup to the following process:
This crowded schedule can only be realised because the June window contains 4 MD's and the September, October, January and March windows will contain 3 MD's each.
Last November match days 3 and 4 of the group stage in qualifying for the African Cup of Nations 2021 were played. The AFCON 2021 will be played in Cameroon, but is already postponed to January 2022. The last two matchdays will be played next March. The top 2 from each of the 12 groups qualifies for the 24-team AFCON 2021. Cameroon as host plays the qualifiers but is of course already certain of qualification. From their group F only one highest ranked other team qualifies, besides Cameroon.
Subsequently from May until October this year the second round of World Cup qualifying for CAF-teams will be played in 10 groups of 4 teams. The draw for this group stage was already a year ago in Cairo, but still no official schedule of matches is published by CAF/FIFA.
The third qualification round to decide the 5 African representatives in Qatar is staged for November this year. It consists of 5 two-legged play-offs between the 10 group winners.
