The FIFA Men's World Ranking is a ranking system for men's national teams in association football, first introduced in December 1992. and after each game points are added to or subtracted from a team's rating according to the formula:

:<math>P = P_\text{before}+I(W-W_e)</math>

where:

  • P<sub>before</sub> – the team's number of points before the game
  • I – the importance coefficient:
  • 5 – friendlies played outside the International Match Calendar windows
  • 10 – friendlies played within the International Match Calendar windows
  • 15 – Nations League matches (group stage)
  • 25 – Nations League matches (play-offs and finals), Confederations' final competitions qualifiers, FIFA World Cup qualifiers
  • 35 – Confederations' final competitions matches (before quarter-finals)
  • 40 – Confederations' final competitions matches (quarter-finals, semi-finals, third place play-off and final)
  • 50 – FIFA World Cup matches (before quarter-finals)
  • 60 – FIFA World Cup matches (quarter-finals, semi-finals, third place play-off and final)
  • W – the result of the game:
  • 0 – loss after regular or extra time
  • 0.5 – draw or loss in a penalty shoot-out
  • 0.75 – win in a penalty shoot-out
  • 1 – win after regular or extra time.

:: If a game ends with a winner, but still requires a penalty shoot-out (PSO) (i.e. in the second game of a two-legged tie), it is considered as a regular game and the PSO is disregarded.

  • W<sub>e</sub> – the expected result of the game:

::<math>W_e = \frac{1}{10^{-\frac{\Delta}{c + 1}</math>

:where <math>\Delta</math> is the difference between two teams' ratings before the game, and <math>c=600</math> is a scale.

Negative points in knockout stages of final competitions do not affect teams' ratings.

Transition

The current ranking system represented a major change from the previous versions. Its introduction began with a review that was announced by FIFA in September 2017, with a view to a decision on whether to make changes after the end of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification. FIFA announced on 10 June 2018 that the ranking system would be updated following the 2018 World Cup finals. The most significant change was to move away from a system in which points were accrued for victories or draws and then dropped after a certain date (as used in systems such as the ATP and WTA rankings in tennis), to a continuous rating system in which teams' points increase or decrease with the result of every match. In addition to this, the current calculation method abolishes the weightings designated for FIFA's continental confederations and retained the 2006 changes which ascribed no value to whether a game was home or away, or to the margin of the victory, unlike several unofficial Elo-based ranking systems. with Germany – who had been eliminated in the first round of the World Cup – remaining as the top ranked team.

FIFA had originally planned to use the pre-existing world ranking points from June 2018 as the start value, but by the time of the rankings' release in August 2018, the starting points had been changed. The numbers entered into the calculations for the August 2018 ranking had an equal distribution of points between 1600 (Germany, as the previously top ranked team) and 868 (Anguilla, Bahamas, Eritrea, Somalia, Tonga and Turks and Caicos Islands, which had 0 points in June), according to the formula:

:<math>P_\text{seeding}=1600-(R-1)\times 4</math>,

where R is the rank in June 2018. When two or more teams had equal ranks, the following team received the next immediate rank possible, e.g. if two teams had R=11, the following team had R=12, not 13. These numbers were then used to calculate new rankings, based on games played since June 2018. This produced a more dramatically altered ranking table, with Germany falling to 15th and 2018 World Cup champions France moving to the top of the ranking. This analysis noted that, unlike a pure Elo rating which are a zero-sum game where the total number of ranking points stays constant, the FIFA rankings will slowly inflate the number of points. This inflation is caused by:

  • Penalty shootouts, when <math>W_\text{winner}= 0.75</math> and <math>W_\text{loser} = 0.5</math>, thus <math>W_\text{winner} + W_\text{loser} = 1.25</math>,
  • The knockout stages of competitions, where <math>W-W_e</math> in the ranking formula is forced to be non-negative. Most often, this rule is applied for the losing team, but is also done for the winner in shootouts when <math>W_e>0.75</math>.

As a consequence, the total number of points slowly grows over time; between June 4, 2018 and March 31, 2022, there were 3,444 FIFA-recognized games, and the initial total value of points equal to 254,680 was increased by 2,099 points (approximately 0.8%). Significant changes were implemented in January 1999 and again in July 2006, as a reaction to criticisms of the system. Historical records of the rankings, such as listed at FIFA.com, reflect the method of calculation in use at the time, as the current method has not been applied retrospectively to rankings before July 2006. Membership of FIFA has expanded from 167 to 211 since the rankings began; 211 members are currently included in the rankings. The Cook Islands were temporarily removed from the ranking in the period from September 2019 until February 2022, after not having played any matches between 4 September 2015 until 17 March 2022.

1992–1998 calculation method

The ranking formula used from December 1992 until December 1998, was devised by two Swiss lecturers from University of Zurich (Markus Lamprecht and Dr. Hanspeter Stam). The first formula was the most simple one, compared to later revisions, but it still required complex calculation. The main concept was to award points for matches played between all FIFA-affiliated national A teams, based on their results over the past eight years in FIFA-recognised matches (friendly matches, qualifying and finals matches for the World Cup, and qualifying and final matches for a Continental championship): Three points for a win, one point for a draw and no points for a loss. Results were not included from matches played by the FIFA association's: B teams, C teams, League XI teams, Women, U17, U20, U23 and futsal teams. The calculated results for the rankings published throughout 1992–1998, was at some point of time also rounded to the nearest integer by the official FIFA website, although other websites opted to publish the unrounded points of the ranking.

1999–2006 calculation method

In January 1999, FIFA introduced a revised system of ranking calculation, incorporating many changes in response to criticism of inappropriate rankings. For the ranking all matches, their scores and importance were all recorded, and were used in the calculation procedure. Only matches for the senior men's national team were included. Separate ranking systems were used for other representative national sides such as women's and junior teams, for example the FIFA Women's World Rankings. The women's rankings were, and still are, based on a procedure which is a simplified version of the Football Elo Ratings. The major changes were as follows:

  • the point ranking was scaled up by a factor of ten
  • the method of calculation was changed to take into account factors including:
  • the number of goals scored or conceded
  • whether the match was played at home or away
  • the importance of a match or competition
  • regional strength
  • a fixed number of points were no longer necessarily awarded for a victory or a draw
  • match losers were able to earn points

A contemporary website, described the 1999-revision of the calculation formula to be something that "slightly modified and more finely tuned the tried and tested method of calculation", with the most impactful revisions being that from now on only the seven best matches annually are taken into account (removing the previous advantage of playing additional matches) along with an adjustment of the regional strength factors for confederations and the match importance factors for various competitions. The new ranking system continued the practice of the previous one, to annually grant the awards:

  • Team of the Year
  • Best Mover of the Year

The changes made the ranking system more complex, but helped improve its accuracy by making it more comprehensive.

2006–2018 calculation method

FIFA announced that the ranking system would be updated following the 2006 World Cup. The evaluation period was cut from eight to four years, and a simpler method of calculation was used to determine rankings. Goals scored and home or away advantage were no longer taken into account, and other aspects of the calculations, including the importance attributed to different types of match, were revised. The first set of revised rankings and the calculation methodology were announced on 12 July 2006. This change was rooted at least in part in widespread criticism of the previous ranking system. Many football enthusiasts felt it was inaccurate, especially when compared to other ranking systems and that it was not sufficiently responsive to changes in the performance of individual teams.

Criticism of pre–2018 methods

Since their introduction in 1992, the FIFA World Rankings have been the subject of much debate, particularly regarding the calculation procedure and the resulting disparity between generally perceived quality and world ranking of some teams. The perceived flaws in the FIFA system have led to the creation of a number of alternative rankings from football statisticians. The rankings were adapted in 1999 to include weightings based on the importance of the match and the strength of the opponent. A win over a weak opponent resulted in fewer points being awarded than a win over a much stronger one. Further adaptations in 2006 were made to reduce the number of years' results considered from 8 to 4, with greater reliance on matches from within the previous 12 months. Still, criticisms of the rankings remained, with particular anomalies being noted including: the United States rise to fourth in 2006, to the surprise of even their own players; Israel's climb to 15th in November 2008, which surprised the Israeli press; and Belgium's rank of world number 1 in November 2015, even though Belgium had only played in one tournament final stage in the past 13 years.

Further criticisms of the 2006–2018 formula included the inability of hosts of major tournaments to retain a high place in the rankings, as the team participated in only lower-value friendly matches due to their automatic qualification for the tournament. For example, 2014 FIFA World Cup hosts Brazil fell to a record low ranking of 22nd in the world before that tournament, at which they then finished fourth. 2018 FIFA World Cup hosts Russia had the lowest ranking (70th) at the tournament, where they reached the quarter-finals before bowing out to eventual finalists Croatia on penalties.

In the 2010s, teams realised the ranking system could be 'gamed', specifically by avoiding playing non-competitive matches, particularly against weaker opponents. This was because the low weighting of friendlies meant that even victories could reduce a team's average score: in other words, a team could win a match and lose points. Before the seeding of the 2018 World Cup preliminary draw, Romania even appointed a ranking consultant, playing only one friendly in the year before the draw. Similar accusations had been made against Switzerland, who were a seeded team at the 2014 FIFA World Cup having played only three friendly matches in the previous year, The use of regional strength multiplier in the ranking formula before 2018 was also accused of further reinforcing and perpetuating the bias for and against certain regions.

Leaders

<div style="text-align:center;float:center;clear:right;margin-left:1em"> FIFA World Men's Ranking Leaders<br /></div>

{| style="float:right; margin-left:1em"

| style="vertical-align:top"|

{| class="wikitable"

|-

! No.

! Team

! Confederation

! Days at No. 1 only to relinquish it the following month.

In July 2014, Germany took over the lead once again, having won the 2014 FIFA World Cup. In July 2015, Argentina reached the top spot for the first time since 2008, after reaching the final of both the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2015 Copa America. In November 2015, Belgium became the leader in the FIFA rankings for the first time, after topping their Euro 2016 qualifying group. Belgium led the rankings until April 2016, when Argentina returned to the top. In April 2017, Brazil returned to the No. 1 spot for the first time since 2010, with Germany regaining the top spot in July after winning the Confederations Cup.

In August 2018, FIFA updated their rating system by adopting the Elo rating system, with 2018 FIFA World Cup winners France regaining the top spot for the first time after nearly 16 years. One month later, for the first time, two teams were joint leaders as Belgium reached the same ranking as France. This lasted only one month, as Belgium regained sole possession of the top spot in October 2018 and kept it for nearly four years (only Brazil and Spain have had longer continuous streaks).

Since winning the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Argentina held the top spot from April 2023 until September 2025. Following their triumph at UEFA Euro 2024, finishing as runners-up in the 2024–25 UEFA Nations League, and beginning the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group E with victories, Spain rose to first place in the rankings.

France were also successful, mainly powered by Kylian Mbappe. After being the second-fastest UEFA team to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, as well as back-to-back friendly victories against Brazil and Colombia in 2026, they rose to first place.

Schedule

Rankings are published multiple times a year. The most recent update was on 1 April 2026. The next update is scheduled for 9 June 2026. The March 2011 ranking was used to seed the draw for the 2012 CAF Men's Pre-Olympic Tournament second qualifying round. The rankings are also used to determine the winners of the two annual awards national teams receive on the basis of their performance in the rankings. The Football Association uses the average of the last 24 months of rankings as one of the criteria for player work permits.

Special releases

To determine the seeding of teams in certain instances like FIFA World Cup qualification, FIFA occasionally releases a list of special rankings for a particular confederation to determine the seeding of the teams. For instance, the seeding for the third round draw for AFC qualifiers was based on a special release of the FIFA World Rankings for Asian teams on 18 June 2021.

Awards

Each year FIFA hands out two major awards to its member nations, based on their rankings.

Team of the Year

The Team of the Year is awarded each year to the first ranked team in the December edition of the FIFA World Ranking.