FIFA RANKING UPDATE WHAT IT MEANS FOR MEXICO

FIFA released their updated FIFA ranking today and some ranks were shocking. For starters, two CONCACAF teams are in the Top 10. El Tri came in 9th and the USA in 10th. Does this mean CONCACAF is now a power and that Mexico is a better team than those below them? No. So what does it mean?

 FIrst, let’s take a look at how the rankings are formulated.

HOW THE RANKINGS WORK

FIFA has been using a new algorithm since 2018 which is very similar to the ELO Method used to rank chess players. 

FIFA calls their version of the ELO Method SUM, and the difference is they added more considerations to give more importance to knock-out stage matches than group stage matches in final competitions,  final round competitions, such as the FIFA World Cup Finals, and less importance to friendly matches. They have also excluded losses in knock-out rounds of final competitions from the calculation.

Contrary to popular belief, FIFA doesn’t take matches in the Olympics under consideration for this formula.

The final formula for SUM is:

P = Pbefore + I * (W – We)

Pbefore: Points before the match 

I: importance of match  

Example: I= 05 Friendly matches played outside of International Match Calendar windows or I= 60 FIFA World Cup final competition matches from QF stage onwards, and many in between.

W: result of the match  1 = win; 0.5 = draw; 0 = defeat 

We: expected result of the match We = 1 / (10(-dr/600) + 1) 

With dr=difference in ratings of the two playing teams, i.e. dr = [Pbefore of Team A – Pbefore of Team B]

For a more indepth look click here.

SO WHAT DOES IT MEAN

Basically, the ranking means that aside from the horrible summer El Tri has had they have had a very successful couple of years. It is also why teams like Brazil and Belgium are ranked higher than Euro Champions Italy and Copa America Champions Argentina. 

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT

Many leagues around the world use the FIFA Ranking to determine whether or not a player can get a work visa to play in their league. The Premier League is notorious for this, and is why it is one of the most competitive leagues in the world. 

The FIFA Rankings are also important during seating for the World Cup and other international competitions. For the World Cup, the host team, plus the top seven ranked teams are the group heads for the groups. FIFA will adjust so no two team from the same Confederation are in the same group other than European squads. Hence, what happened to Mexico for the 2006 World Cup.

If you are tired of Mexico’s molero friendly matches, then the FIFA Ranking is important to you. The higher a team is ranked, the better friendlies they are eligible to get. Top Ranked teams are more likely to consider other top squads for their friendly matches. So this new ranking might get Mexico more game with top teams…IF the Federation wishes to go up against the world’s best and not line their pockets.

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El Tri Online was founded in December 2017 to serve English-speaking fans of Mexican Soccer. Our mission is to create compelling Mexican soccer content and share it via our website, streaming apps, social media, and any other medium for English-dominant Mexican-American fans of the Mexican National Team, Liga MX, and their players.

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