FIFA ranking: April 2022 final preview

FIFA will publish the ranking tomorrow, Thursday March 31st. Just in time to use it as the seeding ranking for the Finals draw the following day, Friday April 1st at 18:00 CET that shindig will start.

This final preview contains 169 matches, out of 181 matches played since February 7th.

Just now New Zealand has demolished Solomon Islands in the OFC qualification final, so they will participate in the interconfederational play-off against the CONCACAF number four in June.

And tonight (for us Europeans) the CONCACAF octagonal finishes with the last 4 matches: Canada is qualified but they need a win to clinch the final spot in pot 3 (relegating Tunisia to pot 4), Mexico needs a point against El Salvador to qualify. Costa Rica - USA is about the third direct qualification spot. Costa Rica needs a win with 6 goals difference to pip the USA. That probably won't happen, so the Central-Americans will highly likely be the opponent of New Zealand in June. Mexico and USA will be in pot 2 for the draw when they qualify.

The other IPO is between Peru and the winner of Australia - United Arab Emirates.

The points to be won tonight in the final matches counting for the April ranking:

	MEX			SLV
	pos	pts		pos	pts
MEX win	9	1658,82		74	1331,65
draw	13	1646,32		70	1344,15
SLV win	16	1633,82		69	1356,65
	CRC			USA
	pos	pts		pos	pts
USA win	39	1478,09		9	1658,72
draw	37	1490,59		13	1646,22
CRC win	31	1503,09		16	1633,72
	PAN			CAN
	pos	pts		pos	pts
CAN win	68	1357,79		31	1504,00
draw	65	1370,29		37	1491,50
PAN win	61	1382,79		39	1479,00
	JAM			HON
	pos	pts		pos	pts
JAM win	63	1378,75		83	1289,47
draw	67	1366,25		78	1301,97
HON win	70	1353,75		76	1314,47

Elo predicts wins for Mexico, Canada and Jamaica and a draw between Costa Rica and USA.

Brazil has finally regained the top spot over Belgium. They were first already in September 1993, in only the second ranking (from now 316 published rankings).

The Cook Islands are once again included in the ranking after the one qualifier they were able to play this month before COVID-19 struck again.

Two teams record new highs:

Canada (31 - 33 in February 2022)

Kosovo (108 - 109 in September 2021)

Four teams dropped to new lows:

Liechtenstein (192 - 191 in July 2017)

Guam (207 - 206 in October 2021)

US Virgin Islands (208 - 207 in November 2019)

British Virgin Islands (209 - 208 in October 2019)

Two teams equaled their lowest ranking:

Anguilla (210 first in November 2019)

San Marino (211 first in November 2018)

Best movers:

10 - New Zealand

7 - South Sudan

6 - North Macedonia, Sao Tomé e Príncipe

Worst movers:

-8 - Azerbaijan, Somalia

-7 - New Caledonia

Best movers in the top 50:

5 - Costa Rica

4 - Norway, Saudi Arabia

Worst movers in the top 50:

-5 - Australia

-4 - Austria, Turkey

These will be the pots for the Finals draw when the elo-predictions for the CONCACAF matches tonight come true:

pot 1

Qatar - AFC

Brazil - CONMEBOL

Belgium - UEFA

France - UEFA

Argentina - CONMEBOL

England - UEFA

Spain - UEFA

Portugal - UEFA

pot 2

Mexico - CONCACAF

Netherlands - UEFA

Denmark - UEFA

Germany - UEFA

USA - CONCACAF

Uruguay - CONMEBOL

Switzerland - UEFA

Croatia - UEFA

pot 3

Senegal - CAF

Iran - AFC

Japan - AFC

Morocco - CAF

Serbia - UEFA

Poland - UEFA

Korea Republic - AFC

Canada - CONCACAF

pot 4

Tunisia - CAF

Cameroon - CAF

Ecuador - CONMEBOL

Saudi Arabia - AFC

Ghana - CAF

UEFA PO placeholder (Wales - Scotland/Ukraine)

CONMEBOL/AFC IPO placeholder (Peru - Australia/United Arab Emirates)

CONCACAF/OFC IPO placeholder (Costa Rica -New Zealand)

Stay safe and healthy everybody !

pos Apr	team	pts Apr	+/- pos	+/- pts
1	Brazil	1832,69	1	9,27
2	Belgium	1827,00	-1	-1,45
3	France	1789,85	0	3,70
4	Argentina	1765,13	0	-1,86
5	England	1761,71	0	6,19
6	Italy	1723,31	0	-17,46
7	Spain	1709,19	0	4,44
8	Portugal	1674,78	0	14,53
9	Mexico	1658,82	3	10,92
10	Netherlands	1658,66	0	4,93
11	Denmark	1653,60	-2	-0,94
12	Germany	1650,53	-1	2,20
13	USA	1646,22	0	2,88
14	Uruguay	1635,73	2	21,68
15	Switzerland	1635,32	-1	-7,51
16	Croatia	1621,11	-1	0,37
17	Colombia	1600,52	2	14,63
18	Wales	1588,08	2	10,07
19	Sweden	1584,77	-2	-3,49
20	Senegal	1584,16	-2	-3,62
21	Iran	1564,49	0	-8,40
22	Peru	1562,32	0	-1,13
23	Japan	1553,44	0	3,62
24	Morocco	1551,88	0	4,46
25	Serbia	1547,53	0	0,15
26	Poland	1544,20	2	13,58
27	Ukraine	1535,08	0	0
28	Chile	1526,40	-2	-16,76
29	Korea Republic	1519,54	0	-3,31
30	Nigeria	1504,01	2	-5,90
31	Canada	1504,00	2	6,18
32	Egypt	1500,67	2	3,62
33	Czech Republic	1500,62	-2	-9,80
34	Austria	1500,37	-4	-11,19
35	Tunisia	1499,80	1	9,88
36	Russia	1493,42	-1	0
37	Costa Rica	1490,59	5	26,53
38	Cameroon	1480,48	0	-0,34
39	Scotland	1472,66	1	0,84
40	Hungary	1466,08	1	0,46
41	Norway	1463,50	4	8,07
42	Australia	1462,29	-5	-24,57
43	Turkey	1461,81	-4	-10,91
44	Algeria	1461,26	-1	0,33
45	Slovakia	1454,98	1	-0,38
46	Ecuador	1452,63	-2	-6,00
47	Republic of Ireland	1449,48	2	5,19
48	Romania	1446,54	-1	-6,64
49	Saudi Arabia	1444,69	4	10,74
50	Paraguay	1443,30	0	2,77
51	Qatar	1441,41	1	3,50
52	Mali	1436,62	-4	-9,87
53	Cote d'Ivoire	1435,28	-2	-4,34
54	Northern Ireland	1423,55	0	-1,42
55	Greece	1421,43	0	-0,56
56	Burkina Faso	1409,61	0	-8,97
57	Finland	1406,87	0	-4,90
58	Venezuela	1398,14	0	-13,31
59	Bosnia-Herzegovina	1388,63	0	-2,56
60	Ghana	1387,36	1	5,91
61	North Macedonia	1381,07	6	13,84
62	Iceland	1380,85	-2	-1,96
63	Jamaica	1378,75	-1	0,13
64	Slovenia	1378,23	0	2,81
65	Albania	1371,86	0	-3,12
66	Congo DR	1365,07	0	-4,46
67	Panama	1357,79	-4	-17,77
68	United Arab Emirates	1356,99	1	3,89
69	South Africa	1356,01	-1	-2,23
70	Montenegro	1342,79	2	-0,10
71	Cape Verde Islands	1339,50	2	2,62
72	Iraq	1338,91	2	13,47
73	Bulgaria	1338,78	-2	-6,69
74	El Salvador	1331,65	-4	-14,39
75	Oman	1324,16	4	23,16
76	Israel	1305,92	1	-0,78
77	China PR	1304,02	-2	-9,79
78	Bolivia	1298,81	-2	-9,31
79	Curacao	1298,39	1	0
80	Guinea	1293,21	1	0,63
81	Gabon	1290,65	1	0
82	Honduras	1289,47	-4	-14,49
83	Benin	1288,91	0	6,38
84	Uzbekistan	1286,55	1	9,53
85	Georgia	1276,31	1	7,07
86	Uganda	1275,50	-2	-3,68
87	Bahrain	1265,76	2	2,15
88	Syria	1265,03	3	13,81
89	Zambia	1262,22	-1	-2,42
90	Haiti	1261,86	-3	-6,19
91	Jordan	1259,84	-1	0
92	Armenia	1245,13	0	2,89
93	Belarus	1243,23	1	9,80
94	Luxembourg	1229,60	-1	-6,85
95	Kyrgyzstan	1218,48	1	-10,21
96	Vietnam	1215,38	2	-3,17
97	Lebanon	1211,71	-2	-17,26
98	Congo	1211,36	-1	-10,04
99	Palestine	1208,90	1	0
100	Trinidad and Tobago	1206,88	1	0,89
101	New Zealand	1206,07	10	44,41
102	Madagascar	1205,61	0	0
103	Equatorial Guinea	1203,93	-4	-6,14
104	Kenya	1202,26	-1	0
105	Cyprus	1186,09	0	7,44
106	Sierra Leone	1177,78	1	3,97
107	India	1174,04	-3	-8,71
108	Kosovo	1173,90	1	10,85
109	Korea DPR	1169,96	-1	0
110	Estonia	1169,06	-4	-7,44
111	Thailand	1167,68	1	7,54
112	Namibia	1162,93	-2	0
113	Mauritania	1162,48	3	9,96
114	Tajikistan	1159,42	1	6,86
115	Guinea-Bissau	1158,80	-2	0,18
116	Niger	1153,23	-2	-5,16
117	Libya	1149,63	1	0,12
118	Guatemala	1147,85	5	9,45
119	Mozambique	1146,09	-2	-4,92
120	Malawi	1145,08	-1	0
121	Togo	1140,05	5	6,81
122	Zimbabwe	1138,56	0	0
123	Gambia	1138,19	2	3,01
124	Angola	1137,67	3	5,95
125	Faroe Islands	1137,40	-1	0,41
126	Kazakhstan	1134,77	-6	-5,94
127	Antigua and Barbuda	1131,08	1	0
128	Comoros	1130,77	3	4,57
129	Azerbaijan	1127,05	-8	-11,97
130	Tanzania	1123,79	2	5,03
131	Central African Republic	1122,08	-1	-5,12
132	Sudan	1118,40	1	0,09
133	Philippines	1117,89	-4	-12,02
134	Turkmenistan	1117,60	0	0
135	Latvia	1105,02	0	4,99
136	Rwanda	1097,16	0	0
137	Solomon Islands	1092,56	5	19,78
138	Lithuania	1092,04	-1	0,27
139	Burundi	1077,38	2	1,56
140	Ethiopia	1076,66	-2	-4,57
141	Suriname	1073,39	-1	-4,18
142	St. Kitts and Nevis	1072,30	-3	-5,46
143	Eswatini	1070,46	4	16,32
144	Nicaragua	1062,21	0	0
145	Lesotho	1061,72	1	4,10
146	Kuwait	1059,94	-3	-5,62
147	Hong Kong	1053,39	1	0
148	Botswana	1051,59	1	0
149	Afghanistan	1049,77	1	0
150	Liberia	1046,58	-5	-11,70
151	Yemen	1046,26	0	0
152	Myanmar	1044,56	0	0
153	Andorra	1040,13	2	9,85
154	Malaysia	1035,06	0	0,53
155	Dominican Republic	1029,42	1	0
156	Maldives	1025,50	1	3,92
157	Chinese Taipei	1017,78	1	0
158	Singapore	1012,27	3	11,49
159	Indonesia	1001,61	1	0
160	New Caledonia	999,70	-7	-35,42
161	South Sudan	998,45	7	20,64
162	Papua New Guinea	997,60	3	7,05
163	Vanuatu	995,62	1	0
164	Tahiti	995,11	-5	-19,16
165	Fiji	988,30	-3	-7,97
166	Barbados	987,52	-3	-8,42
167	Bermuda	982,43	-1	0
168	Nepal	978,86	-1	-3,36
169	Malta	971,56	5	12,61
170	Grenada	968,49	-1	-5,54
171	Cambodia	966,61	0	0
172	Guyana	966,38	3	7,51
173	Puerto Rico	962,77	-1	0
174	Belize	962,21	-4	-5,21
175	St. Vincent and the Grenadines	960,71	-2	0
176	St. Lucia	953,45	1	0
177	Cuba	950,91	2	1,95
178	Montserrat	950,71	0	0
179	Mauritius	940,47	-3	-14,71
180	Moldova	932,79	1	5,94
181	Chad	931,98	-1	-3,02
182	Macau	922,10	0	0
183	Sao Tomé e Príncipe	917,62	6	14,31
184	Dominica	916,72	-1	0
185	Laos	914,66	2	10,06
186	Mongolia	911,49	-2	-5,19
187	Bhutan	910,96	-2	0
188	Bangladesh	903,98	-2	-3,85
189	American Samoa	900,27	1	0
190	Cook Islands	899,33	-	-8,67
191	Brunei Darussalam	898,96	-3	-4,94
192	Liechtenstein	895,08	-1	-4,44
193	Samoa	894,26	0	0
194	Djibouti	875,98	-2	-20,64
195	Cayman Islands	873,64	0	0
196	Seychelles	866,94	0	-3,69
197	Pakistan	866,81	0	0
198	Timor-Leste	865,47	0	0
199	Tonga	861,81	0	0
200	Aruba	859,97	0	0
201	Bahamas	858,50	0	0
202	Somalia	857,39	-8	-16,32
203	Gibraltar	857,20	0	3,60
204	Eritrea	855,56	-2	0
205	Sri Lanka	842,93	-1	0
206	Turks and Caicos Islands	839,84	-1	0
207	Guam	838,33	-1	0
208	US Virgin Islands	816,13	-1	0
209	British Virgin Islands	812,94	-1	0
210	Anguilla	792,34	-1	0
211	San Marino	776,97	-1	-3,36

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About me:

Software engineer, happily unmarried and non-religious. You won't find me on Twitter or other so called social media. Dutchman, joined the blog in March 2018.