England move to fourth in rankings.

by **Crimey** Wed 29 Jun 2011, 2:09 pm

England have moved above Brazil to fourth in the Fifa world rankings, despite their recent run of poor form.

Fabio Capello's England side only reached the last 16 of last summer's World Cup and have not won their last two qualifying matches for Euro 2012.

Spain are top of the rankings, followed by the Netherlands and Germany.

Republic of Ireland (31st), Scotland (61st) and Northern Ireland (62nd) also climb the rankings but Wales stay in 114th place.

It is the first time England have been as high as fourth since 1997, after they reached the semi-finals of Euro 96.

However, Capello and his side have come under criticism after a poor World Cup and only managing a 2-2 draw against Switzerland at Wembley earlier this month - a result that the Italian coach blamed on fatigue.

Fifa rankings for June

1 Spain

2 Netherlands

3 Germany

4 England

5 Brazil

31 Republic of Ireland

61 Scotland

62 Northern Ireland

114 Wales

Spain's haul of 1,871 points keeps them top and they are 210 points ahead of the Netherlands, who they beat in the World Cup final in South Africa last year.

Germany's 1,417 points moves them up to third, while England tally 1,146 points.

Brazil (1,130), Italy (1,059), Portugal (1,046), Croatia (1,033), Mexico (1,007) and Argentina (979) complete the top 10.

Fifa ranking points are accumulated according to results, the importance of the matches played and the strength of the opposing teams.

A team's total number of points is representative of a four-year period, calculated by the average number of points gained over the past 12 months and the average gained from older games, though that points total depreciates yearly.

Since they were knocked out of the World Cup by Germany just over a year ago, England have won five matches, including three qualifiers; drawn three, which includes two competitive games; and lost once - to France in a friendly.

Totally undeserved IMO, we have played poorly for a long time now, although perhaps other national sides have as well and this is just evidence of a detioriating international football quality?

by Forward Pass Wed 29 Jun 2011, 2:52 pm

Can't believe were in top 10 let alone 4th
Weve been playing 2nd rate stuff for a couple of years
Brazil & Argentina will go back above us when copa america finishes asuming they both do well

by sodhat Wed 29 Jun 2011, 2:57 pm

Well, if ever there was a reason to completely disregard these rankings, this is it.

No way are we the fourth best team in the world --- we'd need to get to semi finals of tournaments regularly to accurately be placed there. That hasn't happened since 1996, when we were at home, and 1990 when we were not...

by Grizzly Wed 29 Jun 2011, 3:17 pm

Then the rankings are wrong.
Any team who continually fail at Euros/World Cups, and even fail to qualify for the finals on occasions, have no claim to being a top 10 side as Forward Pass says.
Capello only has a job because of the embarrassment (and costs) that would have surrounded his sacking

by ReallyReal Thu 30 Jun 2011, 2:53 pm

It's yet another thing that proves conclusively that FIFA don't care about football and have no idea how it should be run, does ANYBODY on earth really believe we're better than Brazil?

Apart from the odd team here and there, England have been about the 8-12th best team on earth for decades and we definitely don't have a team that would rate us higher than that ATM, maybe a little lower, but certainly NOT higher.

by Guest Tue 26 Jul 2011, 8:17 pm

i dont no how we can be 4th Doh

by Kay Fabe Wed 27 Jul 2011, 3:55 am

I'm still trying to figure out how England could be anywhere near as high, utter drivel

by Beer Wed 27 Jul 2011, 8:04 am

the-gaffer wrote:I'm still trying to figure out how England could be anywhere near as high, utter drivel

Cause Scotland are just damn near world class aren't they?

naughty naughty boy.

by Guest Wed 27 Jul 2011, 8:38 am

theres no way we are better than brazil...

even if they do miss all their penalties :p

by Beer Wed 27 Jul 2011, 9:32 am

It's not a case of being better than them. At the end of the day, England get results. Regardless of how gash they play. They also have no bearing on how other teams perform on an international level, so if other teams falter and England move up, how is it their fault?

Unfortunately it's a typical, idiotic, Scottish mindset that can't see the wood from the trees and just assume it's some sort of conspiracy but fail to back it up with any other eveidence than 'England are rubbish'.

by Guest Wed 27 Jul 2011, 9:34 am

im english so im glad we are 4th but i dont think we are the 4th best team in the world

by Beer Wed 27 Jul 2011, 10:13 am

Nor do I.

At the same time, i don't believe that Gabon, Jamaica, Burkina Faso or Iran are better than Scotland, but they beat the teams in front of them and a placed in the rankings accordingly.

by hodge Wed 27 Jul 2011, 2:15 pm

I do believe that Wales should be 112th or whatever it is though laughing

Well teams better than England:

Spain, Germany, Brazil, Argentina? (I know they've had a poor run but are a quality team) Holland, Italy

But like it says England usually beat their freindly opponents and thats all you have to do

by liverbnz Wed 27 Jul 2011, 2:32 pm

I wouldn't say either of Italy or Argentina are better than England, although there is no exact science to prove it. Argentina probably have the best pool of players in the world to pick from, but they just don't seem to perform.

England's record over the last few years is actually very good. Yes, they were poor at the WC, but that was only 4 games. Hardly a great cross-section now is it? Before that, they romped through the qualifiers. That's long forgotton now after England were eliminated in roughly the round you'd expect for a team of their quality - maybe one round too early.

The football rankings are what they are, there's no need to take them too seriously. There are too many variables in a game of football for them to be 100% accurate anyway.

by Guest Wed 27 Jul 2011, 2:42 pm

Argentina's new manager can't be any worse than the old one, so maybe we might see some sense in their team in the next year or two.

I don't think anyone seriously takes the rankings seriously? The only way to tell who the best international teams are would be to put them in a league.

by liverbnz Wed 27 Jul 2011, 2:45 pm

I seriously don't know if people do take them seriously. But some people do seem to be seriously annoyed at England seriously being in 4th.

Who is Argentina's new coach anyway? Have they named him yet?

by Guest Wed 27 Jul 2011, 3:04 pm

Looks like it'll be Alejandro Sabella- was supposed to take another foreign job but the club chairman/President has said it's unlikely he'll join the club because he is favoured for the national team job.

by Guest Thu 01 Sep 2011, 10:37 am

huge game friday against bulgaria

by Guest Thu 01 Sep 2011, 10:41 am

Ridiculous time for a friendly when the season has just started.

by Guest Thu 01 Sep 2011, 2:07 pm

its not a friendly its a qualifer!

by Riggs Sun 04 Sep 2011, 12:36 am

Now you know something isn't right when FIFA place England in 4th position, somethings been done to make this illogical move happen. Shocked

In no way have any England team shown themselves worthy to be above Brazil of all countries, seriously, yes there's young lads coming through and hopefully they'll be the reason for England's success.

I'm truly mystified at the 4th position Erm

by hodge Sun 04 Sep 2011, 1:16 am

Need to play stronger teams in freindlies to earn this ranking, qualifying wise There isn't too much to say otherwise though as englands record is genrally impressive and have usually done decently to quarter final minimum which has held the rankings

by **Kenny** Sun 04 Sep 2011, 1:39 am

Really dont see how we justify 4th place

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4th how!

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