Defective FIFA ranking calculations
According to the latest ranking of national teams released by FIFA on Thursday, World Champions Germany are still atop despite two defeats in last three months whereas Brazil remain sixth in spite of four consecutive wins in four International friendlies during the same period. Perhaps, there can be no greater farce than this in the history of world of football.
World Runners-up Argentina, Columbia, Belgium and Netherlands are rated second, third, fourth and fifth respectively in the ranking. Sri Lanka are ahead of Bangladesh although the latter has better track record than the former. The rankings are currently decided through this formula: Result x Importance of Match x Strength of Opposition x Confederation Strength=Total Points.
The FIFA calculates each team’s last four years performance, which many critics question the genuineness. A national team might have remarkable performance in 2011 and 2012 but poor in the recent time. On the other hand, a team might have reversed record. But FIFA while calculating points considers last four years’ performance. That is why Brazil fell short of Germany. So, the raking is a farce, football experts claim.
Interestingly, Brazil held the top position for 13 years in a row from 1993 to 2006 (except 2001) despite disgraceful defeat by France in 1998 World Cup Final.
P. Rozario
Pabna
