The ANNOTICO Report
The
Italians climbed to No. 2 following their July 9 triumph over France in the World Cup finals, but then dropped
to fifth after suffering losses to Croatia
and France
in August and September.
Italy reclaimed its No. 2 position in the latest
rankings thanks to convincing victories over Ukraine
and Georgia
this month in qualifying games for the 2008 European Championship.
Brazil has 1,560 points in the October rankings
but their lead is down to just 20, after slipping 14 points, while Italy gained an
impressive 66.
Rankings:
(previous month in brackets, points total) 1. (1) Brazil 1,560 2. (5) Italy 1,540 3. (2) France 1,483 4. (3)
Argentina
1,446 5. (4) England
1,370 6. (8) Germany
1,339 7. (6) Netherlands
1,313 8. (7) Czech Republic
1,253 9. (9) Portugal
1,224 10. (10) Spain
1,198 11. (11) Nigeria
1,139 12. (12) Cameroon
1,110 13. (13) Ukraine
1,054 14. (22) Greece
979 15. (14) Switzerland
978 16. (18) Sweden
975 17. (15) Uruguay
903 18. (19) Ivory Coast 893
19= (17) Mexico 882 19= (24)
Croatia
882
ITALIANS
CLOSE GAP ON BRAZIL
IN FIFA RANKINGS
Seattle Post Intelligencer
Wednesday,
October 18, 2006
Zurich,
Switzerland (Sports Network) - The FIFA/Coca-Cola rankings for the month of
October were released on Wednesday, and to no one's surprise, Brazil was still
on top, but only by 20 points over now second-place Italy.
The defending
World Cup champions picked up 66 points in the month of September and moved up
three spots into the second position, right on the heels of Brazil, who dropped
14 points but still held on to the number one spot.
The rest of the
top 10 saw minimal changes from last month. Germany
made the biggest move, leaping over the Netherlands
and the Czech Republic
from the eighth spot into the number six position. France,
Argentina and England each moved down a ranking after being
jumped by Italy to round out
the top five, while Portugal
and Spain
hold strong in the ninth and 10th positions, respectively.
Greece made the most impressive move in the top
20, climbing eight spots from 22 to 14, while Croatia
hauled itself into the top 20 and a 19th-place tie with Mexico by
picking up 57 points last month.
Scotland made a
nine-spot improvement up to 25th on the strength of its recent EURO 2008
qualifying campaign, and right behind the Scots is Poland, who also moved on up
to 27th by earning 67 points, allowing them to improve by eight positions.
Then there is the
United States, who dropped
18 points but still remains in the 29th slot, tied with Paraguay. These
are humbling times for the US,
who have Guinea directly in
their rear-view mirror and are looking up at 28th- place Tunisia.
Mali and Northern Ireland also were big winners
this month. Mali is making
its highest ever appearance in the rankings at 41, while Northern Ireland
(45) have not been a part of the top 50 in over 10 years.
Points are
accumulated based on the results of a team's matches over the past four years,
the importance of each match, the strength of the opponent, the strength of the
region and the number of matches per year that each team plays.