Friday, October 10, 2008

Big Movers in the October FIFA Rankings





Positive Movers

Change -- Nation -- (+)Results -- Current Rank

+57 -- New Zealand -- (W: New Caledonia, W: New Caledonia) (54)
+43 -- Congo -- (W: Mali) (57*)
+29 -- Luxembourg -- (W: Switzerland) (123)
+23 -- Benin -- (W: Angola) (81)
+22 -- Cayman Islands -- (D: Antigua and Barbuda, D: Bermuda) (162)
+22 -- St Vincent and the Grenadines -- (W: Anguilla) (125)
+21 -- Niger -- (W: Uganda) (150)
+20 -- Algeria -- (W: Senegal) (56)
+20 -- Barbados -- (W: British Virgin Islands, W: St Kitts and Nevis) (114)
+19 -- Austria -- (W: France) (82)
+19 -- Albania -- (W: Malta, D: Sweden) (83)
+19 -- Montenegro -- (D: Ireland, D: Bulgaria) (117*)
+17 -- Lithuania -- (W: Austria, W: Romania) (37*)
+15 -- Peru -- (D: Argentina, W: Venezuela) (58)

* Highest ever FIFA ranking

Negative Movers

Change -- Nation -- (-)Results -- Current Rank

-34 -- Equitorial Guinea -- (L: Sierra Leone) (121)
-27 -- New Caledonia -- (L: New Zealand, L: New Zealand) (122)
-24 -- Suriname -- (L: El Salvador, L: Costa Rica) (108)
-20 -- Georgia -- (L: Italy, L: Ireland) (97)
-17 -- Moldova -- (L: Israel, L: Latvia) (65)
-17 -- Congo DR -- (L: Egypt) (85)
-15 -- Cape Verde -- (L: Cameroon) (104)
-15 -- Cyprus -- (L: Italy) (80)
-15 -- South Africa -- (L: Guinea, L: Nigeria) (85)


Notes:

New Zealand was this biggest mover with an amazing jump from a poor 111 rank to a respectable 54. How'd they get there? With two wins over their Oceania rival New Caledonia who were ranked 16 places ahead of the Kiwis at 95 when the games took place.

The two Congos in Africa did the old switcharoo this month. Congo went from a rank of 100 to 57. Conversely Congo DR, who were previously ranked 32 places ahead of their neighbors, is now ranked below them by 28 places, falling from 68 to 85.

Congo, Montenegro, and Lithuania are all currently at their highest ever FIFA ranking.

The biggest drop in the top 50 was Scotland, who moved from 16 to 26 because of a WCQ loss to Macedonia.

1 comment:

  1. A bit late reading this...

    New Zealand's jump is due to their policy of not playing friendly games (it's a financial decision as they really can't afford it). In October they had 3 games in the last 12 months period. Those games (the points to be more exact) were divided by 5. So after playing 2 games against New Caledonia, they got a huge boost, because they received the points (world cup qualifier...) but the total was still divided by 5.
    New Zealand will be 84th in the December FIFA Ranking, they are returning to the depths of the ranking.

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