FIFA Rankings: Croatia Jumps 16 Places After Big World Cup
- by croatiaweek
- in Sport
(HNS)
Croatia is now ranked 4th in the world after football’s governing body FIFA released the latest rankings on Thursday.
After winning six matches at the 2018 FIFA World Cup against Nigeria, Argentina, Iceland, Denmark, Russia and England to claim the silver medal, Zlatko Dalić’s team moved up from 20th spot to 4th spot under the new calculations FIFA has put in place.
FIFA announced on 10 June 2018 that the ranking system would be updated with the calculation method to be adopted closely modeled after the Elo rating system.
The weighting designated for each confederation for ranking purposes has been abolished. However, the new methodology does not account for home or away games and margin of the victory, as Elo rankings.
“The new method places much larger emphasis on the importance of the match. Knock out stages of any nations leagues, continental competitions, Confederation Cup and the World Cup will carry greater weight age than the group stages of the same. Also, friendly matches played outside the international calendar will earn much lesser points for teams than games played within the international calendar,” Goal says.
(HNS)
“Another major shift from the previous method is the doing away of the use of confederations strength in the calculation of points. Previously, the CONEMBOL and UEFA confederations carried much more strength compared to their other counterparts. With the removal of the criteria, teams from the likes of Asia and Africa will be able to climb up the table as quickly as their European and South American counterparts.”
France has knocked Germany from its perch to claim the No.1 spot, whilst Belgium is ranked second. Brazil is just ahead of Croatia in third.
FIFA Rankings as at 16 August 2018.
More details about the new formula here.
