And you thought the golf world rankings were crazy!

[Deleted member 1418]

Not when you compare them to FIFA's football world rankings!!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18703497

So based on our performance at Euro 2012 where we were (at best) the 5th best team in Europe, England have risen two places to be the 4th best team in the world!!

Makes them even more of a mockery when you see that Brazil have fallen outside the top 10!!

Top 20 are as follows:
1. Spain 2. Germany 3. Uruguay 4. England 5. Portugal 6. Italy 7. Argentina 8. Netherlands 9. Croatia 10. Denmark 11. Brazil 12. Greece 13. Russia 14. France 15. Chile 16. Ivory Coast 17. Sweden 18. Czech Republic 19. Mexico 20. Japan

 

[Scottjd1]

I think the world rankings for Golf and Tennis are spot on, football couldnt be more wrong!

 

[Farneyman]

Not when you compare them to FIFA's football world rankings!!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18703497


Top 20 are as follows:
1. Spain 2. Germany 3. Uruguay 4. England 5. Portugal 6. Italy 7. Argentina 8. Netherlands 9. Croatia 10. Denmark 11. Brazil 12. Greece 13. Russia 14. France 15. Chile 16. Ivory Coast 17. Sweden 18. Czech Republic 19. Mexico 20. Japan

18th position is the Republic of Ireland . The Czech Rep are 27th.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

As a staunch football fan, not just England and Fulham, but of the game, it is a joke that the national side is that far ahead of Brazil or Argentina. We would never live with them in a competitive match

 

[birdieman]

As a staunch football fan, not just England and Fulham, but of the game, it is a joke that the national side is that far ahead of Brazil or Argentina. We would never live with them in a competitive match

But even if you wouldn't live with them you wouldn't lose, England very very rarely lose a regular match, penalties is how you exit tournaments. Last game you lost was 2 years ago to Germany I think, ranked two. You are a bit pants in terms of passing and skills but you are very hard to beat, that's why you're high in the rankings. Rankings go on results.

 

[smange]

It's a combination of things.

The rankings are calculated over 4 years so they included Euro 2008 last month, but those points were removed for this month's rankings. Because England didn't make it to Euro 2008 they had no points to lose.
England were undefeated over 90 minutes at this year's Euros. This means they got points for all of their matches (even though they lost on penalties).
Portugal and Italy picked up a lot more points than England, but they were so far behind that it didn't help them.
The Netherlands had a terrible tournament.

If you add it all up then it puts England in fourth.

 

[JustOne]

Out of the list of 20 which teams ARE better than us?

1. Spain 2. Germany 3. Uruguay 4. England 5. Portugal 6. Italy 7. Argentina 8. Netherlands 9. Croatia 10. Denmark 11. Brazil 12. Greece 13. Russia 14. France 15. Chile 16. Ivory Coast 17. Sweden 18. Czech Republic 19. Mexico 20. Japan

5,6,7 and 8 are all so close together that wouldn't it be practically impossible to choose anyway?


That said I couldn't care less if England are No1 on the list or 20th.

 

[HawkeyeMS]

I don't even know how they can publish that list. England ahead of Brazil, Holland and Argentina

 

[Imurg]

Biggest problem is that without a World Cup, the likes of Brazil and Argentina just play friendlies and with the next WC being in Brazil, they don't have to qualify so they're not playing.
It's the same scenario as Tiger sliding down the rankings when he wasn't playing. If you don't play, you don't accumulate points.

Holland had a terrible Euro 2012 don't forget.
Not saying we're actually better than those teams but the rankings are there, the points allocation is there and that's where it puts us.
As Birdieman says, we're wuite hard to beat and were one of the 2 teams to go unbeaten at the Euros.....