FIFA rankings a waste of time
Posted: Wednesday August 19, 1998 05:39 PM
There's something horribly wrong with the FIFA ranking system.
It's puzzled and irritated me before, but frankly angers me now.
FIFA, soccer's world governing body, issued its latest national rankings list on Wednesday.
The top 10 reads as follows: 1. Brazil 2. France 3. Germany 4. Croatia 5. Argentina 6. Czech Republic 7. Yugoslavia 8. Italy 9. Holland 10. England.
Does anyone other than me have a problem with this?
France out-classed Brazil in the recent World Cup final and yet, under the restrictive and curious points system, is deemed unworthy of top spot.
The Brazilians the best national team in the world? I think not. France deserve that honor.
Germany, which had a miserable World Cup by its exalted standards and crashed out to Croatia in the quarterfinals, is still holding onto a top three place. Wrong again.
The Germans may be the reigning European Champions, but that triumph is now more than two years old. The team they beat in the final at Euro 96, the Czech Republic, is unbelievably in sixth. It didn't even qualify for the World cup finals. Sixth? Astonishing.
These FIFA rankings are issued monthly. So much for them being up-to-date. Why not simply issue a biannual list if Germany and the Czechs are going to unfairly occupy two of the top six places.
The Dutch, World Cup semifinalists and one of the most impressive teams on show in France '98, are meanwhile left languishing in 9th. Argentina, which the Dutch beat in the quarterfinals, is 5th. Yugoslavia, which it beat in the round of 16, is 7th. It just doesn't add up.
There are inconsistencies further down the list as well. The United States, the worst of the 32 teams at France '98, is 18th. It has even moved up a place from last month. Did I miss something which suddenly allowed it to leapfrog Colombia? Did the U.S. play a behind-closed-doors international just for FIFA?
I'm not sure how seriously FIFA wants its rankings to be taken. But I'm assuming it doesn't put them out there to be laughed at.
If that's the case, I suggest it changes its points system to reflect the current national soccer trends -- not give us an inaccurate and irritating list which reflects nothing but a bad points system.
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