FIFA has on Thursday officially announced the 2022 world rankings, and Brazil hold on to their number one spot, despite Argentina being crowned world champions.
The South American rivals occupy position one and two respectively, with France coming behind at number three and Belgium slipping down to position four following a disappointing world cup display, after exiting in the group stages.
The newly released world rankings has since caused some confusion as to why would quarterfinalists Brazil still be ranked above the tournament winners Argentina.
On top of the world and up to second in the #FIFARanking 🇦🇷📈
Here's how the top 10 nations look after #Qatar2022
— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) December 22, 2022
In 2018, Fifa approved the Elo rating system and implemented it in 2021 to determine the world rankings. The rating system calculates greater points for each team in terms of competitive games and tournaments recognised by Fifa, instead of friendlies.
The catch is that the Elo system rules that wins inside 90 minutes are deserving of more points than those that require extra time and penalties.
In the case of Selecao and La Albiceleste, Lionel Scaloni’s side lost their opening Group A encounter to Saudi Arabia – a low ranked side won two of their matches in a penalty shootout on their way to the World Cup glory, which ultimately cost them 39 points.
However, the Argentines would have been moved above their archrivals had they won their two penalty shootout games inside regulation time.
Meanwhile, Brazil won three and lost two games in Qatar, with four of them ending inside 90 minutes, and the defeat to Croatia coming in on penalties in the quarterfinals.
The Atlas Lions of Morocco moved 11 spots up to secure position 11 on the world rankings, becoming the highest climbers by 108,85 points, and joint highest climbers by places alongside Australia.
Senegal is the second-highest ranked African side in number 19, dropping only by one spot, followed by Cameroon, who moved up to 33, while South Africa is still stagnant on number 67.
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