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Elo Rating System for football

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The World Football Elo Ratings is a ranking system for men's national association football teams that is published by the website eloratings.net. It is based on the Elo rating system but includes modifications to take various football-specific variables into account, like the margin of victory, importance of a match, and home field advantage. Ratings tend to converge on a team's true strength relative to its competitors after about 30 matches. Ratings for teams with fewer than 30 matches are considered provisional.

Other implementations of the Elo rating system are possible. A 2009 comparative study of eight methods found that the implementation of the Elo rating system described below had the highest predictive capability for football matches, while the men's FIFA ranking method in place until July 2018 performed poorly.

The FIFA World Rankings is the official national teams rating system used by the international governing body of football. The FIFA Women's World Rankings system has used a modified version of the Elo formula since 2003. Following the 2018 World Cup, the FIFA ranking will switch to an Elo-based ranking as well, starting from the current FIFA rating points.

The major difference between the World Football Elo Rating and the future men's FIFA rating system is that the latter will not consider goal differential and will count a penalty shoot-out as a win/loss rather than a draw; thus, a 7:0 blowout will be considered equal to a 7:6 penalty shoot-out win (neither method distinguishes a win in extra time from a win in regular time). The FIFA method will further be less sensitive to the difference in ratings and more sensitive to match status. Finally, World Football Elo Ratings considers all official international matches for which results are available, including those involving "unaffiliated" teams that are not a member of FIFA.

Top 80 ratings as of 3 July 2018
Elo
Rank
1 Year
Change
Team Elo
Rating
FIFA
Rank*
1 Steady  Brazil 2156 2
2 Increase 4  France 2029 7
3 Increase 8  Belgium 2010 3
Increase 1  Spain 2010 10
5 Increase 13  Uruguay 1986 14
6 Decrease 4  Germany 1964 1
7 Increase 9  Croatia 1950 20
8 Increase 2  England 1944 12
9 Decrease 4  Portugal 1940 4
10 Decrease 3  Colombia 1939 16
11 Increase 6  Netherlands 1908 17
12 Increase 7  Sweden 1906 24
10 Decrease 10  Argentina 1896 5
Increase 20  Denmark 1896 12
15 Decrease 7  Italy 1891 19
16 Decrease 1  Peru 1890 11
17 Decrease 3   Switzerland 1879 6
18 Decrease 9  Chile 1869 9
19 Decrease 7  Mexico 1829 15
20 Increase 3  Iran 1816 37
21 Decrease 8  Poland 1783 8
22 Increase 3  Wales 1777 18
23 Increase 9  Serbia 1772 34
24 Increase 2  United States 1764 25
25 Increase 11  Senegal 1763 27
26 Increase 8  South Korea 1757 57
27 Steady  Slovakia 1752 28
28 Increase 2  Ukraine 1750 35
29 Decrease 9  Ecuador 1747 60
30 Steady  Bosnia & Herzegovina 1745 40
31 Increase 8  Austria 1742 26
32 Increase 8  Venezuela 1739 33
33 Decrease 9  Republic of Ireland 1729 31
34 Increase 3  Paraguay 1728 32
Decrease 12  Turkey 1728 38
36 Increase 8  Romania 1727 30
37 Decrease 8  Costa Rica 1726 23
38 Increase 22  Morocco 1720 41
39 Decrease 4  Australia 1713 36
Decrease 1  Czech Republic 1713 46
41 Increase 2  Russia 1710 70
42 Decrease 1  Scotland 1709 42
43 Decrease 23  Iceland 1708 22
44 Increase 9  Nigeria 1702 48
45 Decrease 17  Japan 1699 61
46 Decrease 1  Northern Ireland 1676 29
47 Increase 19  Tunisia 1662 21
48 Decrease 7  Bolivia 1661 59
49 Decrease 3  Greece 1646 44
50 Decrease 3  Cameroon 1645 49
Increase 17  Ghana 1645 47
52 Increase 17  Norway 1640 53
53 Decrease 2  Slovenia 1626 56
54 Increase 1  Bulgaria 1615 49
55 Increase 13  Syria 1606 73
56 Increase 20  Finland 1605 63
57 Decrease 8  Ivory Coast 1602 68
58 Decrease 6  Uzbekistan 1599 95
59 Decrease 1  Burkina Faso 1597 52
Increase 3  Montenegro 1597 43
61 Decrease 11  Panama 1596 55
62 Increase 1  Honduras 1590 62
63 Decrease 2  DR Congo 1589 38
64 Decrease 7  Saudi Arabia 1588 67
65 Decrease 11  Hungary 1576 51
66 Decrease 18  Egypt 1575 45
67 Increase 18  Jamaica 1574 54
68 Decrease 4  South Africa 1565 74
69 Decrease 10  Albania 1560 58
70 Increase 8  Iraq 1550 89
71 Increase 24  Oman 1539 84
72 Increase 9  Canada 1534 79
Decrease 1  China 1534 75
74 Decrease 2  United Arab Emirates 1532 77
75 Decrease 5  Israel 1527 93
76 Decrease 11  Belarus 1522 78
77 Decrease 2  Mali 1519 64
78 Increase 15  North Macedonia 1518 71
79 Increase 1  Guatemala 1511 146
80 Decrease 25  Algeria 1508 66
*FIFA rankings per 7 June 2018
Complete rankings at eloratings.net
AFC CAF CONCACAF CONIFA
CONMEBOL OFC UEFA


History and overview

The Elo system, developed by Hungarian-American mathematician Árpád Élő, is used by FIDE, the international chess federation, to rate chess players, and by the European Go Federation, to rate Go players. In 1997, Bob Runyan adapted the Elo rating system to international football and posted the results on the Internet. He was also the first maintainer of the World Football Elo Ratings web site, currently maintained by Kirill Bulygin.

The Elo system was adapted for football by adding a weighting for the kind of match, an adjustment for the home team advantage, and an adjustment for goal difference in the match result.

The factors taken into consideration when calculating a team's new rating are:

  • The team's old rating
  • The considered weight of the tournament
  • The goal difference of the match
  • The result of the match
  • The expected result of the match

These ratings take into account all international "A" matches for which results could be found. Ratings tend to converge on a team's true strength relative to its competitors after about 30 matches. Ratings for teams with fewer than 30 matches should be considered provisional.

Calculation principles

The ratings are based on the following formulae:

R n = R o + K G ( W W e ) {\displaystyle R_{n}=R_{o}+KG(W-W_{e})}

or

P = K G ( W W e ) {\displaystyle P=KG(W-W_{e})}

Where;

R n {\displaystyle R_{n}} = The new team rating
R o {\displaystyle R_{o}} = The old team rating
K {\displaystyle K} = Weight index regarding the tournament of the match
G {\displaystyle G} = A number from the index of goal differences
W {\displaystyle W} = The result of the match
W e {\displaystyle W_{e}} = The expected result
P {\displaystyle P} = Points Change

"Points Change" is rounded to the nearest integer before updating the team rating.

Status of match

The status of the match is incorporated by the use of a weight constant. The constant reflects the importance of a match, which, in turn, is determined entirely by which tournament the match is in; the weight constant for each major tournament is:

Tournament or Match type Index (K)
World Cup, Olympic Games (1908-1980) 60
Continental championship and intercontinental tournaments 50
World Cup and Continental qualifiers and major tournaments 40
All other tournaments 30
Friendly matches 20

The FIFA adaptation of the Elo rating will feature 8 weights, with the knockout stages in the World Cup weighing 12x more than some friendly matches.

Number of goals

The number of goals is taken into account by use of a goal difference index.

If the game is a draw or is won by one goal

G = 1 {\displaystyle G=1}

If the game is won by two goals

G = 3 2 {\displaystyle G={\frac {3}{2}}}

If the game is won by three or more goals

  • Where N is the goal difference
G = 11 + N 8 {\displaystyle G={\frac {11+N}{8}}}

Table of examples:

Goal Difference Coefficient of K (G)
0 1
+1 1
+2 1.5
+3 1.75
+4 1.875
+5 2
+6 2.125
Result of match

W is the result of the game (1 for a win, 0.5 for a draw, and 0 for a loss). This also holds when a game is won or lost on extra time. If the match is decided on penalties, however, the result of the game is considered a draw (W = 0.5).

Expected result of match

We is the expected result (win expectancy with a draw counting as 0.5) from the following formula:

W e = 1 10 d r / 400 + 1 {\displaystyle W_{e}={\frac {1}{10^{-dr/400}+1}}}

where dr equals the difference in ratings (add 100 points for the home team). So dr of 0 gives 0.5, of 120 gives 0.666 to the higher-ranked team and 0.334 to the lower, and of 800 gives 0.99 to the higher-ranked team and 0.01 to the lower.
The FIFA adaptation of the Elo rating will not incorporate a home team advantage and will have a larger divisor in the formula (600 vs 400), making the points exchange less sensitive to the rating difference of two teams.

Examples for clarification

The same example of a three-team friendly tournament on neutral territory is used as on the FIFA World Rankings page. Beforehand team A had a rating of 600 points, team B 500 points, and teams C 480 points.
The first table shows the points allocations based on three possible outcomes of the match between the strongest team A, and the somewhat weaker team B:

Team A Team B Team A Team B Team A Team B
Score 3 : 1 1 : 3 2 : 2
K {\displaystyle K} 20 20 20 20 20 20
G {\displaystyle G} 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1 1
W {\displaystyle W} 1 0 0 1 0.5 0.5
W e {\displaystyle W_{e}} 0.679 0.321 0.679 0.321 0.679 0.321
Total (P) +9.63 -9.63 -20.37 +20.37 -3.58 +3.58

When the difference in strength between the two teams is less, so also will be the difference in points allocation. The next table illustrates how the points would be divided following the same results as above, but with two roughly equally ranked teams, B and C, being involved:

Team B Team C Team B Team C Team B Team C
Score 3–1 1–3 2–2
K {\displaystyle K} 20 20 20 20 20 20
G {\displaystyle G} 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1 1
W {\displaystyle W} 1 0 0 1 0.5 0.5
W e {\displaystyle W_{e}} 0.529 0.471 0.529 0.471 0.529 0.471
Total (P) +14.13 -14.13 -15.87 +15.87 -0.58 +0.58

Team B drops more points by losing to Team C, which has shown about the same strength, than by losing to Team A, which has been considerably better than Team B.

List of number one teams

The following is the list of nations who reached a first rank in ratings since 1872.

Start Date Nation # of days
30 Nov 1872  England 1,190
4 Mar 1876  Scotland 5,873
2 Apr 1892  England 3,760
20 Jul 1902  Argentina 2,148
6 Jun 1908  England 2,190
5 Jun 1914  Denmark 5
10 Jun 1914  Denmark
 England
361
6 Jun 1915  Denmark 490
8 Oct 1916  England 1,420
28 Aug 1920  Spain 1
29 Aug 1920  Uruguay 7
5 Sep 1920  Spain 13
18 Sep 1920  Uruguay 386
9 Oct 1921  Spain 959
25 May 1924  Uruguay 419
18 Jul 1925  Spain 273
17 Apr 1926  Scotland 186
20 Oct 1926  Argentina 4
24 Oct 1926  Uruguay 583
29 May 1928  Argentina 1
30 May 1928  Uruguay 3
2 Jun 1928  Argentina 1
3 Jun 1928  Uruguay 3
6 Jun 1928  Argentina 1
7 Jun 1928  Uruguay 374
16 Jun 1929  Argentina 1,806
27 May 1934  Austria 11
7 Jun 1934  Italy 1,277
5 Dec 1937  Argentina 182
5 Jun 1938  Italy 630
25 Feb 1940  Argentina 144
18 Jul 1940  Italy 136
1 Dec 1940  Argentina 56
26 Jan 1941  Italy 3
29 Jan 1941  Argentina 445
19 Apr 1942  Italy 36
25 May 1942  Argentina 307
28 Mar 1943  Argentina
 Italy
7
4 Apr 1943  Argentina 98
11 Jul 1943  Argentina
 Italy
545
6 Jan 1945  Argentina 36
11 Feb 1945  Italy 4
15 Feb 1945  Argentina 142
7 Jul 1945  Italy 127
11 Nov 1945  Argentina
 Italy
35
16 Dec 1945  Argentina 4
20 Dec 1945  Italy 52
Start Date Nation # of days
10 Feb 1946  Argentina 455
11 May 1947  Argentina
 Italy
182
9 Nov 1947  Argentina 335
9 Oct 1948  England 182
9 Apr 1949  Argentina 442
25 Jun 1950  England 4
29 Jun 1950  Argentina 814
20 Sep 1952  Hungary 218
26 Apr 1953  Argentina 21
17 May 1953  Hungary 1,417
3 Apr 1957  Argentina 3
6 Apr 1957  Hungary 67
12 Jun 1957  Argentina 95
15 Sep 1957  Hungary 8
23 Sep 1957  Argentina 13
6 Oct 1957  Hungary 249
12 Jun 1958  Hungary
 Brazil
3
15 Jun 1958  Brazil 634
10 Mar 1960  Hungary 3
13 Mar 1960  Argentina 47
29 Apr 1960  Brazil 27
26 May 1960  Argentina 3
29 May 1960  Brazil 1,026
21 Mar 1963  Soviet Union 836
4 Jul 1965  Brazil 322
22 May 1966  Soviet Union 13
4 Jun 1966  Brazil 41
15 Jul 1966  Soviet Union 10
25 Jul 1966  West Germany 5
30 Jul 1966  England 1,408
7 Jun 1970  Brazil 742
18 Jun 1972  Brazil
 West Germany
10
28 Jun 1972  West Germany 11
9 Jul 1972  Brazil 129
15 Nov 1972  West Germany 91
14 Feb 1973  Brazil 484
13 Jun 1974  West Germany 9
22 Jun 1974  Brazil 11
3 Jul 1974  West Germany 1,429
1 Jun 1978  Netherlands 6
7 Jun 1978  West Germany 3
10 Jun 1978  Netherlands 1
11 Jun 1978  West Germany 3
14 Jun 1978  Brazil 504
31 Oct 1979  West Germany 434
7 Jan 1981  Brazil 3
10 Jan 1981  West Germany 71
22 Mar 1981  Brazil 10
Start Date Nation # of days
1 Apr 1981  West Germany 44
15 May 1981  Brazil 152
14 Oct 1981  West Germany 243
14 Jun 1982  Brazil 486
13 Oct 1983  Soviet Union 335
12 Sep 1984  France 232
2 May 1985  West Germany 41
12 Jun 1985  France 91
11 Sep 1985  Soviet Union 133
22 Jan 1986  France 154
25 Jun 1986  Brazil 3
28 Jun 1986  France 1
29 Jun 1986  Argentina 346
10 Jun 1987  Brazil 23
3 Jul 1987  England 57
29 Aug 1987  Soviet Union 74
11 Nov 1987  England 141
31 Mar 1988  England
 Soviet Union
2
2 Apr 1988  England 71
12 Jun 1988  Soviet Union 5
17 Jun 1988  West Germany 1
18 Jun 1988  Soviet Union 7
25 Jun 1988  Netherlands 715
10 Jun 1990  Netherlands
 West Germany
2
12 Jun 1990  West Germany 7
19 Jun 1990  Brazil 5
24 Jun 1990  West Germany 725
18 Jun 1992  Netherlands 3
21 Jun 1992  Germany 5
26 Jun 1992  Netherlands 75
9 Sep 1992  Germany 35
14 Oct 1992  Brazil 2
16 Oct 1992  Argentina 246
19 Jun 1993  Germany 370
24 Jun 1994  Brazil 3
27 Jun 1994  Germany 12
9 Jul 1994  Brazil 708
16 Jun 1996  Germany 3
19 Jun 1996  Germany
 Brazil
4
23 Jun 1996  Germany 352
10 Jun 1997  Brazil 380
25 Jun 1998  Germany 2
27 Jun 1998  Brazil 2
29 Jun 1998  Germany 4
3 Jul 1998  Brazil 9
12 Jul 1998  France 331
8 Jun 1999  Brazil 374
16 Jun 2000  France 5
Start Date Nation # of days
21 Jun 2000  Brazil 4
25 Jun 2000  France 711
6 Jun 2002  Argentina 1
7 Jun 2002  Italy 1
8 Jun 2002  France 3
11 Jun 2002  Netherlands 10
21 Jun 2002  Brazil 236
12 Feb 2003  Netherlands 210
10 Sep 2003  France 291
27 Jun 2004  Czech Republic 4
1 Jul 2004  France 65
4 Sep 2004  Argentina 273
4 Jun 2005  Czech Republic 4
8 Jun 2005  Argentina 21
29 Jun 2005  Brazil 102
9 Oct 2005  Netherlands 3
12 Oct 2005  Brazil 265
4 Jul 2006  Italy 43
16 Aug 2006  France 52
7 Oct 2006  Brazil 122
6 Feb 2007  France 1
7 Feb 2007  Brazil 119
6 Jun 2007  Brazil
 France
21
27 Jun 2007  France 14
11 Jul 2007  Argentina 4
15 Jul 2007  Brazil 334
13 Jun 2008  Netherlands 8
21 Jun 2008  Spain 368
24 Jun 2009  Brazil 339
29 May 2010  Brazil
 Spain
4
2 Jun 2010  Brazil 1
3 Jun 2010  Spain 4
7 Jun 2010  Spain
 Brazil
1
8 Jun 2010  Spain 7
15 Jun 2010  Spain
 Brazil
1
16 Jun 2010  Brazil 16
2 Jul 2010  Netherlands 5
7 Jul 2010  Spain 1,089
30 Jun 2013  Brazil 45
14 Aug 2013  Spain 59
12 Oct 2013  Brazil 260
29 Jun 2014  Netherlands 5
4 Jul 2014  Germany 695
29 May 2016  Argentina 165
10 Nov 2016  Brazil 329
5 Oct 2017  Germany 36
10 Nov 2017  Brazil 2,619

  1. ^ Number one position reached at / after first match

All-time highest ratings

The following is a list of national football teams ranked by their highest Elo score ever reached. The team in each confederation that has achieved the highest rank is shown in color.

Rank Nation High
(rank)
High date High rank
(first,last year)
Low
(rank)
Low date
1  Hungary 2230 (1) 1954-06-30 1 (1952,1960) 1528 (74) 2003-11-19
2  Germany 2223 (1) 2014-07-13 1 (1966,2017) 1639 (19) 1920-09-26
3  England 2216 (1) 1912-09-09 1 (1872,1988) 1790 (13) 1928-03-31
4  Brazil 2194 (1) 1962-06-17 1 (1958,2018) 1813 (13) 1922-09-24
5  Spain 2165 (1) 2013-06-23 1 (1920,2013) 1800 (19) 1969-06-25
6  Argentina 2159 (1) 1957-04-03 1 (1929,2016) 1751 (26) 1990-06-08
7  Netherlands 2154 (2) 2014-07-12 1 (1978,2014) 1550 (49) 1954-10-24
8  France 2137 (1) 2001-05-30 1 (1984,2007) 1507 (40) 1930-05-18
9  Italy 2132 (1) 1939-06-11 1 (1952,2006) 1605 (21) 1920-08-29
10  Uruguay 2108 (1) 1928-06-13 1 (1920,1929) 1635 (44) 1979-09-05
11  Scotland 2104 (1) 1888-03-10 1 (1876,1926) 1600 (63) 2005-03-26
12  Soviet Union 1449 (1) 1966-07-23 1 (1963,1988) 1449 (22) 1913-09-14
13  Poland 2083 (2) 1974-09-01 2 (1974,1975) 1525 (55) 1956-08-26
14  Denmark 2077 (1) 1916-06-25 1 (1914,1916) 1536 (59) 1967-05-24
15  Austria 2068 (1) 1934-05-31 1 (1934) 1550 (73) 2011-09-02
16  Chile 2041 (3) 2016-06-26 2 (2016) 1384 (24) 1916-07-06
17  Czech Republic 2038 (1) 2004-06-27 1 (2004,2005) 1670 (46) 2017-09-04
18  Colombia 2035 (5) 2014-06-28 3 (2016) 1304 (94) 1957-03-13
19  Portugal 2022 (3) 1966-07-28 2 (2006) 1619 (41) 1962-11-07
20  Sweden 2012 (3) 1949-06-02 2 (1950) 1577 (28) 1922-05-28
21  Belgium 2010 (3) 2018-07-02 3 (2018) 1497 (44) 1936-03-29
22  Yugoslavia 1515 (3) 1962-06-10 2 (1962) 1515 (39) 1927-04-10
23  Croatia 2005 (5) 1998-07-11 5 (1998) 1781 (21) 2015-09-06
24  East Germany 1993 (5) 1974-06-22 4 (1974,1977) 1419 (74) 1954-10-24
25  Mexico 1986 (6) 2016-06-09 4 (2016) 1495 (41) 1930-07-19
26  Paraguay 1954 (5) 1954-02-21 5 (1954) 1617 (42) 1962-08-12
27  Romania 1946 (6) 1990-06-09 5 (1990) 1503 (43) 1935-09-01
28  Greece 1931 (7) 2004-08-18 7 (2004) 1277 (65) 1936-06-19
29   Switzerland 1930 (9) 2018-06-22 9 (1930) 1490 (23) 1920-02-29
30  Norway 1929 (8) 2000-06-13 8 (2000) 1364 (26) 1916-07-02
31  Rep. of Ireland 1920 (8) 1994-06-18 8 (1991,2002) 1538 (62) 1971-10-10
32  Peru 1916 (10) 2018-06-13 10 (2018) 1486 (45) 1935-01-20
33  Ecuador 1915 (12) 2015-11-17 12 (2013) 1184 (92) 1949-04-25
34  Wales 1905 (13) 1981-05-20 3 (1876,1902) 1403 (3) 1900-02-03
35  Turkey 1899 (12) 2003-06-19 10 (2002,2003) 1381 (55) 1937-08-01
Rank Nation High
(rank)
High date High rank
(first,last year)
Low
(rank)
Low date
36  Bulgaria 1896 (9) 1969-06-15 7 (1969) 1320 (56) 1931-05-10
 Japan 1896 (10) 2001-08-15 8 (2001) 1214 (59) 1927-08-27
38  United States 1891 (11) 2005-09-03 9 (2009) 1417 (88) 1975-08-24
 Egypt 1891 (12) 1965-03-25 10 (1965) 1526 (51) 1953-01-16
40  Australia 1880 (12) 1997-12-14 11 (2001) 1472 (76) 1965-11-29
41  Algeria 1875 (12) 1963-01-04 10 (1959,1960) 1392 (108) 2007-09-09
42  Ghana 1872 (10) 1966-10-30 10 (1966,1967) 1427 (100) 2004-06-14
43  Costa Rica 1868 (15) 2014-11-13 9 (1932,1934) 1495 (72) 1983-03-22
 Ivory Coast 1868 (15) 2013-01-26 15 (2013) 1497 (73) 1983-01-09
45  Cameroon 1852 (14) 2003-06-26 14 (2003) 1453 (81) 1964-01-31
46  Northern Ireland 1850 (17) 1986-04-23 14 (1986) 1397 (108) 2013-10-11
47  Ukraine 1846 (17) 2013-11-15 15 (2010) 1536 (69) 1995-03-29
48  North Korea 1844 (15) 1966-07-19 10 (1969,1970) 1415 (104) 2004-03-31
 South Korea 1844 (17) 2002-06-22 15 (1948,1953) 1446 (79) 1967-08-07
50  Iceland 1841 (19) 2017-10-09 18 (2017) 1256 (123) 1973-08-29
51  Iran 1836 (18) 2005-04-12 18 (2005) 1461 (75) 1959-12-11
52  Nigeria 1828 (18) 2004-06-05 16 (2004) 1500 (72) 1964-12-27
53  Morocco 1823 (21) 1976-06-11 18 (1999) 1512 (86) 2013-03-24
54 South Africa 1817 (10) 1906-07-09 8 (1907,1908) 1452 (95) 2006-09-02
55  Senegal 1812 (21) 2002-06-16 21 (2002,2018) 1392 (105) 1994-10-28
56  Bosnia Herzegovina 1807 (21) 2013-06-07 20 (2013) 1499 (75) 2002-09-07
57  Venezuela 1806 (19) 2011-07-20 19 (2011) 1212 (76) 1938-08-19
58  Guinea 1799 (24) 1977-06-05 20 (1977) 1306 (128) 1996-06-01
59  Bolivia 1793 (21) 1997-06-25 21 (1997) 1244 (61) 1930-07-20
60  Honduras 1790 (25) 2001-09-05 19 (2001 1332 (108) 1965-03-17
61  DR Congo 1789 (19) 1969-12-14 19 (1969) 1392 (111) 2010-09-05
62  Slovakia 1776 (28) 2017-09-01 17 (1939,1941) 1578 (66) 2011-10-07
63  Uzbekistan 1772 (27) 1994-10-16 23 (1994) 1435 (91) 2001-02-12
64  Israel 1771 (25) 1976-04-11 23 (1976) 1426 (75) 1954-05-01
65  Tunisia 1761 (32) 2006-01-26 24 (1978) 1437 (83) 1987-09-23
66  Slovenia 1758 (28) 2001-11-14 27 (2001) 1516 (70) 1998-08-19
67  China 1755 (28) 2001-10-13 21 (1934) 1444 (90) 1992-08-29
 Panama 1755 (29) 2013-07-24 28 (2013) 1152 (141) 1971-04-22
69  Iraq 1753 (24) 1982-12-03 24 (1982) 1452 (97) 2016-10-06
70  Finland 1747 (29) 2002-03-27 14 (1912) 1245 (116) 1961-06-16

  1. at present as Russia
  2. at present as Serbia
  3. Switzerland reached a low of 1485 after its second match in March 1908.
  4. ^ The combined Ireland national football team was in 4th place from its first match in 1882 to 1902, in a period that only 4 teams were in the rankings. It reached a low ratings of 1237 on 29 March 1890.
  5. Wales was in 3 place from its first match in 1876 to 1902, in a period that only 3 to 4 teams were in the rankings
  6. On 1 January 2006, Football Federation Australia moved from the OFC to the AFC
  7. Algeria had only played 4 matches to reach their highest ranking and 8 matches to reach their highest ratings.
  8. South Africa had only played 1 match when they reached their highest ratings and ranking between 1906 and 1908
  9. Slovakia's highest rank of 17 was after their first match in August 1939
  10. Finland reached their highest ranking after their 4th match, after beating Italy and Russia in the 1912 Olympic Games

Average ratings

Time averaged Elo or Elo-like scores are routinely used to compare chess player strengths. The first table is a list of the national teams with the highest average Elo score over approximately the last half century, from 1 January 1970 to 1 January 2018. Before this time intercontinental play was fairly limited and many nations in Africa, North America, and Asia had played too few games yet to create a representative Elo score.

Highest average ratings since 1970
Rank Country Avg Elo
1  Brazil 2046.0
2  Germany 2018.8
3  Netherlands 1960.0
4  England 1957.6
5  Italy 1955.7
6  Spain 1950.4
7  Argentina 1940.4
8  France 1923.9
9  Russia 1877.7
10  Czechia 1862.7
11  Portugal 1859.8
12  Serbia 1845.2
13  Sweden 1830.6
Rank Country Avg Elo
14  Mexico 1817.4
15  Romania 1817.2
16  Uruguay 1807.5
17  Belgium 1807.0
18  Poland 1804.5
19  Denmark 1800.9
20  Scotland 1771.2
21  Chile 1762.2
22  Ireland 1760.1
23  Paraguay 1752.6
24  Bulgaria 1737.0
25   Switzerland 1733.8
26  Austria 1727.0
Rank Country Avg Elo
27  Colombia 1723.5
28  Hungary 1720.7
29  Australia 1712.9
30  Wales 1694.6
31  Greece 1693.7
32  South Korea 1690.0
33  Iran 1684.7
34  Turkey 1680.2
35  Peru 1676.8
36  Nigeria 1674.4
37  Egypt 1671.1
38  Norway 1669.2
39  Israel 1667.0
Rank Country Avg Elo
40  United States 1649.0
41  Cameroon 1647.7
42  Morocco 1643.4
43  Northern Ireland 1642.3
44  Ivory Coast 1638.5
45  Costa Rica 1636.1
46  Ghana 1626.0
47  Ecuador 1623.5
48  Japan 1614.3
49  Tunisia 1610.0
50  Iraq 1603.6
51  China 1600.9
52  Honduras 1584.6

  1. Representing West Germany from 1949 to 1990
  2. Combined record of the USSR (1970-1992), the CIS (1992), and Russia national football teams (1992-present)
  3. Combined record of the Czechoslovakian (1970-1992) and Czech national football teams (1993-present)
  4. Combined record of Yugoslavia (1970-1992), Serbia and Montenegro (1994-2006) and Serbia national football teams (2006-present)
Averages by decade

The table below shows the teams with the best average Elo score each decade since the 1920s (Jan 1 XXX0 - Dec 31 XXX9).

1920s
 Uruguay 2011
 Spain 1977
 Argentina 1962
 Scotland 1959
 England 1904
 Czechoslovakia 1892
 Brazil 1890
 Hungary 1880
 Austria 1865
 Denmark 1805
 Netherlands 1797
 Belgium 1768
 Sweden 1758
 Italy 1744
 Paraguay 1735
1930s
 Argentina 2040
 Italy 2030
 England 1964
 Uruguay 1959
 Scotland 1949
 Austria 1944
 Spain 1939
 Brazil 1902
 Czechoslovakia 1874
 Hungary 1867
 Costa Rica 1835
 Germany 1819
 Wales 1763
 Paraguay 1742
 United States 1735
1940s
 Argentina 2083
 Italy 2061
 England 1976
 Scotland 1945
 Brazil 1928
 Spain 1926
 Germany 1891
 Uruguay 1885
 Hungary 1881
 Austria 1871
 Wales 1844
 Czechoslovakia 1834
 Mexico 1803
 Sweden 1797
  Switzerland 1759
1950s
 Hungary 2060
 Argentina 2060
 Brazil 2027
 England 1982
 West Germany 1924
 Yugoslavia 1903
 Uruguay 1881
 Austria 1880
 Italy 1871
 Scotland 1869
 Spain 1859
 Sweden 1848
 Paraguay 1822
 France 1808
 Czechoslovakia 1772
1960s
 Brazil 2007
 Soviet Union 1988
 England 1975
 Hungary 1971
 Argentina 1955
 West Germany 1934
 Czechoslovakia 1911
 Italy 1899
 Spain 1890
 Uruguay 1879
 Yugoslavia 1867
 Scotland 1853
 Sweden 1835
 Mexico 1819
 Austria 1783

1970s
 Brazil 2101
 West Germany 2084
 England 1993
 Italy 1975
 Netherlands 1929
 Poland 1922
 Soviet Union 1914
 East Germany 1914
 Argentina 1895
 Spain 1895
 Czechoslovakia 1888
 Hungary 1878
 Yugoslavia 1874
 Scotland 1856
 Portugal 1849
 Belgium 1836
 Romania 1822
 Austria 1815
 Sweden 1814
 France 1801
1980s
 Brazil 2009
 West Germany 2005
 Soviet Union 1986
 England 1967
 Italy 1931
 Argentina 1931
 France 1928
 Netherlands 1925
 Spain 1888
 Poland 1871
 Belgium 1864
 Czechoslovakia 1862
 East Germany 1861
 Yugoslavia 1860
 Scotland 1824
 Romania 1822
 Denmark 1822
 Austria 1817
 Wales 1815
 Sweden 1815
1990s
 Brazil 2032
 Germany 2026
 Italy 1990
 France 1969
 Netherlands 1957
 Spain 1941
 FR Yugoslavia 1939
 England 1937
 Denmark 1911
 Argentina 1896
 Croatia 1890
 Czechia 1881
 Russia 1873
 Sweden 1870
 Romania 1858
 Mexico 1853
 Portugal 1843
 Republic of Ireland 1819
 Colombia 1813
 Belgium 1808
2000s
 Brazil 2021
 France 2013
 Netherlands 1999
 Argentina 1988
 Spain 1986
 Italy 1971
 England 1947
 Germany 1920
 Portugal 1917
 Czechia 1908
 Denmark 1870
 Croatia 1868
 Mexico 1845
 Romania 1835
 Sweden 1834
 Republic of Ireland 1818
 Turkey 1817
 United States 1815
 Uruguay 1804
 Russia 1801
2010s
 Brazil 2071
 Germany 2069
 Spain 2063
 Argentina 2005
 Netherlands 1999
 England 1940
 Chile 1918
 Portugal 1912
 France 1905
 Uruguay 1901
 Italy 1900
 Colombia 1892
 Mexico 1876
 Croatia 1859
 Sweden 1817
 Ecuador 1809
  Switzerland 1807
 Belgium 1798
 Russia 1797
 Ukraine 1786

|}

  1. Includes the record of the Great Britain Olympic football team in the 1908, 1912 and 1920 Olympics
  2. In the 1940s, most national teams did not play games until after the end of World War II, making comparison of countries for this decade weak. For example, Mexico did not play any matches between Feb 1938 and July 1947, so that the average over the decade mostly reflects the single Elo rating achieved in February 1938
  3. Combined record of Yugoslavia (1990-1992) and FR of Yugoslavia (1994-1999)
  4. Combined record of Czechoslovakia (1990-1992) and Czech national football teams (1993-1999)
  5. Combined record of the USSR (1990-1992), the CIS (1992), and Russia national football teams (1992-1999)
  6. up to 1 January 2018

Highest rated matches

A list of the 25 matches between teams with the highest combined Elo ratings. The nations' points before the matches are given.

Rank Combined
points
Nation 1 Elo 1 Nation 2 Elo 2 Score Date Occasion Location
1 4287  Germany 2203  Argentina 2084 1–0 2014-07-13 World Cup Final Brazil Rio de Janeiro
 Germany 2223  Argentina 2064 2–4 2014-09-03 Friendly Germany Düsseldorf
3 4278  Hungary 2230  West Germany 2048 2–3 1954-07-04 World Cup Final Switzerland Bern
4 4263  Spain 2136  Netherlands 2127 1–0 2010-07-11 World Cup Final South Africa Johannesburg
5 4245  England 2184  Denmark 2061 4–2 1912-07-04 Olympic Games Final Sweden Stockholm
6 4242  Brazil 2120  Germany 2122 1–7 2014-07-08 World Cup SF Brazil Belo Horizonte
7 4238  West Germany 2114  Brazil 2124 0–1 1973-06-16 Friendly West Germany Berlin
8 4236  Brazil 2086  Spain 2150 3–0 2013-06-30 Confederations Cup Final Brazil Rio de Janeiro
9 4224  Hungary 2208  Uruguay 2016 4–2 1954-06-30 World Cup SF Switzerland Lausanne
10 4223  Germany 2104  Brazil 2119 0–1 2018-03-27 Friendly Germany Berlin
11 4218  Hungary 2180  Brazil 2038 4–2 1954-06-27 World Cup QF Switzerland Bern
12 4207  Netherlands 2077  Brazil 2130 2–1 2010-07-02 World Cup QF South Africa Port Elizabeth
13 4200  Brazil 2083  Netherlands 2117 0–0 2011-06-04 Friendly Brazil Goiânia
14 4199  Brazil 2088  West Germany 2111 1–0 1982-03-21 Friendly Brazil Rio de Janeiro
15 4198  Brazil 2060  West Germany 2138 1–1 1977-06-12 Friendly Brazil Rio de Janeiro
16 4197  West Germany 2123  Netherlands 2074 2–1 1974-07-07 World Cup Final West Germany Munich
17 4191  Brazil 2166  Czechoslovakia 2025 3–1 1962-06-17 World Cup Final Chile Santiago
 West Germany 2135  Brazil 2056 0–1 1978-04-05 Friendly West Germany Hamburg
19 4187  Brazil 2132  Italy 2055 4–1 1970-06-21 World Cup Final Mexico Mexico City
20 4179  Spain 2110  Germany 2069 1–0 2010-07-07 World Cup SF South Africa Durban
 Netherlands 2096  Argentina 2083 0–0 2014-07-09 World Cup SF Brazil São Paulo
22 4177  Germany 2076  Brazil 2101 1–2 1998-03-25 Friendly Germany Stuttgart
23 4173  West Germany 2097  Netherlands 2076 1–1 1975-05-17 Friendly West Germany Frankfurt
24 4172  West Germany 2104  Poland 2068 1–0 1974-07-03 World Cup 2nd round West Germany Frankfurt
25 4168  England 2141  Denmark 2017 3–0 1911-10-21 Friendly England London

Biggest upsets

This is a list of matches with the biggest point exchange. Since the importance of the match, the goal differential and the perceived home team advantage are factored in the exchange, these are not necessarily the most surprising wins as expressed by the difference in Elo rating.
The nations' points before the matches are given.

Rank Point
exchange
Nation 1 Elo 1 Nation 2 Elo 2 Score Date Occasion Location
1 98  Sweden 1676  Belgium 1845 8–1 1924-05-29 Olympic Games France Paris
2 92  Italy 1824  Spain 1991 7–1 1928-06-04 Olympic Games Netherlands Amsterdam
 Turkey 1397  China * 1655 4–0 1948-08-02 Olympic Games United Kingdom Walthamstow
4 87  Norway 1478  Great Britain 2041 3–1 1920-08-28 Olympic Games Belgium Antwerp
5 84  Egypt * 1677  Hungary 1919 3–0 1924-05-29 Olympic Games France Paris
 Czechoslovakia 1855  Argentina 2003 6–1 1958-06-15 World Cup Sweden Helsingborg
7 83  Fiji 1171  New Zealand 1523 4–0 1980-02-23 OFC Nations Cup New Caledonia Nouméa
8 82  Ghana 1606  Czech Republic 2005 2–0 2006-06-17 World Cup Germany Cologne
9 81  Brazil 2120  Germany 2122 1–7 2014-07-08 World Cup Brazil Belo Horizonte
10 80  Germany 1642  Russia * 1567 16–0 1912-07-01 Olympic Games Sweden Solna
 Turkey 1604  South Korea * 1668 7–0 1954-06-20 World Cup Switzerland Geneva
 Trinidad and Tobago 1481  Mexico 1783 4–0 1973-12-14 CONCACAF Championship Haiti Port-au-Prince
 South Korea 1677  Germany 2044 2–0 2018-06-28 World Cup Russia Kazan
14 78  Paraguay 1685  Uruguay 2054 3–0 1929-11-01 Copa América Argentina Buenos Aires
 Chile 1587  Uruguay 1957 3–0 1937-01-10 Copa América Argentina Buenos Aires
16 77  Uruguay 1813  Brazil 2162 3–0 1959-12-12 Copa América Ecuador Guayaquil
 Croatia 1912  Germany 2090 3–0 1998-07-04 World Cup France Lyon
18 76  Germany 1906  Norway 1714 0–2 1936-08-07 Olympic Games Germany Berlin
 Costa Rica 1717  Guatemala 1491 1–4 1946-03-10 CCCF Championship Costa Rica San José
 United States 1888  Mexico 1788 0–5 2009-07-26 CONCACAF Gold Cup United States East Rutherford
21 75  Denmark 1759  Italy 2044 5–3 1948-08-05 Olympic Games United Kingdom London
 Venezuela 1336  Bolivia 1646 3–0 1967-01-28 Copa América Uruguay Montevideo
 Netherlands 1986  Spain 2109 5–1 2014-06-13 World Cup Brazil Salvador
24 74  Chile 1800  Brazil 2032 4–0 1987-07-03 Copa América Argentina Córdoba
25 73  Montserrat 511  British Virgin Islands 758 7–0 2012-09-09 Caribbean Cup qualifier Martinique Fort-de-France

*The initial ratings may be partially responsible for the high point exchange. The national teams of China, Egypt, Russia, and South Korea had played only 18, 3, 2, and 18 international matches before their respective upsets. China had only yet played against East Asian teams.

  1. In those terms, most surprising may have been the 2:1 win of Luxembourg (Elo rating 1036) over Switzerland (ER 1794) in a World Cup qualification match in September 2008 (a 758 point difference). In another World Cup qualifier in October 2004 Liechtenstein (ER 1049) held the 853 points higher rated Portuguese team (ER 1902) to a 2:2 draw.


Elo Ratings before each World Championship

Eventual achievement of highlighted teams:
Champions
Runners-up
Third place
Fourth place
Not qualified / not entered

(Top 10 and continental champion)

Disqualified (Top 10 only)

/ withdrew (being qualified)

1908 Summer Olympics
Team Ranking
(18 Oct 1908)
 England 1 (2102)
 Argentina 2 (2006)
 Hungary 3 (1886)
 Netherlands 4 (1883)}
 Uruguay 5 (1877)
 Austria 6 (1875)
 Bohemia 7 (1867)
 Scotland 8 (1835)
 South Africa 9 (1817)
 Belgium 10 (1775)
 Sweden 11 (1698)
 France 13 (1590)
 Denmark debut
1912 Summer Olympics
Team Ranking
(28 Jun 1912)
 England 1 (2155)
 Denmark 2 (2009)
 Argentina 3 (1962)
 Netherlands 4 (1932)
 Uruguay 5 (1929)
 Hungary 6 (1886)
 Scotland 7 (1873)
 Bohemia 8 (1867)
 Austria 9 (1855)
 South Africa 10 (1794)
 Sweden 12 (1707)
 Germany 13 (1671)
 Italy 14 (1649)
 Russia 15 (1596)
 Finland 17 (1571)
 Norway 24 (1372)
1920 Summer Olympics
Team Ranking
(27 Aug 1920)
 England 1 (2041)
 Uruguay 2 (2009)
 Hungary 3 (1984)
 Denmark 4 (1954)
 Argentina 5 (1919)
 Netherlands 6 (1910)
 Brazil 7 (1906)
 Scotland 8 (1874)
 Czechoslovakia 9 (1867)
 Austria 10 (1804)
 Belgium 11 (1772)
 Sweden 15 (1670)
 Italy 18 (1624)
 France 21 (1582)
 Norway 25 (1484)
 Luxembourg 29 (1298)
 Spain debut
 Yugoslavia debut
 Egypt debut
 Greece debut
 Poland debut
1924 Summer Olympics
Team Ranking
(24 May 1924)
 Spain 1 (2017)
 Uruguay 2 (2008)
 Scotland 3 (1917)
 Argentina 4 (1913)
 Czechoslovakia 5 (1911)
 Hungary 6 (1901)
 England 7 (1882)
 Brazil 8 (1871)
 Denmark 9 (1851)
 Belgium 10 (1845)
 Netherlands 13 (1813)
 United States 17 (1705)
 Ireland 21 (1678)
 Italy
 Sweden 23 (1680)
 Egypt 24 (1675)
  Switzerland 25 (1655)
 Poland 30 (1594)
 Romania 31 (1583)
 Yugoslavia 32 (1577)
 France 35 (1555)
 Turkey 39 (1500)
 Latvia 44 (1400)
 Bulgaria 45 (1398)
 Estonia 49 (1372)
 Luxembourg 50 (1295)
 Lithuania 51 (1090)
1928 Summer Olympics
Team Ranking
(26 May 1928)
 Uruguay 1 (2017)
 Argentina 2 (2006)
 Spain 3 (1985)
 Scotland 4 (1984)
 Brazil 5 (1930)
 Czechoslovakia 6 (1924)
 Austria 7 (1883)
 Denmark 8 (1860)
 Hungary 9 (1852)
 Sweden 10 (1828)
 Italy 13 (1796)
 Germany 16 (1737)
 Netherlands
 United States 19 (1715)
 Portugal 20 (1708)
 Mexico 21 (1701)
 Egypt 22 (1690)
 Belgium 23 (1678)
  Switzerland 24 (1677)
 Yugoslavia 30 (1589)
 France 34 (1550)
 Chile 40 (1512)
 Turkey 46 (1475)
 Luxembourg 55 (1286)
1930 FIFA World Cup
Team Ranking
(12 July 1930)
 Argentina 1 (2076)
 Scotland 2 (2010)
 Uruguay 3 (1972)
 England 4 (1969)
 Italy 5 (1965)
 Austria 6 (1944)
 Brazil 7 (1930)
 Spain 8 (1925)
 Czechoslovakia 9 (1898)
 Denmark 10 (1848)
 Paraguay 15 (1780)
 United States 20 (1685)
 Belgium 26 (1645)
 Mexico 30 (1613)
 Chile 32 (1577)
 Yugoslavia 33 (1575)
 Romania 35 (1566)
 Peru 36 (1542)
 France 40 (1523)
 Bolivia 61 (1259)
1934 FIFA World Cup
Team Ranking
(26 May 1934)
 Argentina 1 (2064)
 Austria 2 (2047)
 England 3 (1980)
 Uruguay 4 (1976)
 Italy 5 (1973)
 Brazil 6 (1939)
 Spain 7 (1934)
 Scotland 8 (1869)
 Czechoslovakia 9 (1845)
 Costa Rica 10 (1843)
 Hungary 11 (1829)
 Germany 12 (1800)
 United States 14 (1784)
 Sweden 17 (1731)
 Egypt 19 (1715)
 Netherlands 21 (1701)
 Romania 26 (1643)
 France 30 (1615)
  Switzerland 31 (1611)
 Belgium 38 (1545)
1938 FIFA World Cup
Team Ranking
(3 June 1938)
 Argentina 1 (2054)
 Italy 2 (2051)
 Scotland 3 (1978)
 England 4 (1961)
 Spain 5 (1945)
 Hungary 6 (1920)
 Brazil 7 (1908)
 Austria 8 (1897)
 Uruguay 9 (1862)
 Wales 10 (1840)
 Germany 11 (1836)
 Czechoslovakia 13 (1802)
 Norway 17 (1731)
 Netherlands 19 (1708)
  Switzerland 24 (1667)
 Sweden 27 (1652)
 Poland 30 (1633)
 France 32 (1624)
 Belgium 37 (1566)
 Romania 38 (1559)
 Cuba 41 (1546)
 Dutch East Indies 46 (1467)
1950 FIFA World Cup
Team Ranking
(23 June 1950)
 Argentina 1 (2078)
 England 2 (2076)
 Sweden 3 (1972)
 Brazil 4 (1969)
 Italy 5 (1965)
 Scotland 6 (1941)
 Hungary 7 (1933)
 West Germany 8 (1907)
 Spain 9 (1897)
 Paraguay 10 (1877)
 Mexico 12 (1825)
 Yugoslavia 13 (1818)
 Uruguay 18 (1736)
  Switzerland 21 (1710)
 France 24 (1693)
 Chile 33 (1600)
 India 37 (1587)
 United States 40 (1580)
 Bolivia 63 (1445)
1954 FIFA World Cup
Team Ranking
(15 June 1954)
 Hungary 1 (2141)
 Argentina 2 (2087)
 Brazil 3 (2031)
 England 4 (2017)
 West Germany 5 (1938)
 Yugoslavia 6 (1932)
 Paraguay 7 (1928)
 Scotland 8 (1891)
 Italy 9 (1890)
 Uruguay 10 (1875)
 Austria 11 (1863)
 Belgium 14 (1774)
 France 15 (1766)
 Czechoslovakia 17 (1748)
 Mexico 24 (1693)
 South Korea 26 (1678)
  Switzerland 27 (1677)
 Turkey 34 (1618)
1958 FIFA World Cup
Team Ranking
(7 June 1958)
 Hungary 1 (2077)
 Argentina 2 (2043)
 England 3 (2010)
 Brazil 4 (1974)
 West Germany 5 (1913)
 Uruguay 6 (1912)
 Austria 7 (1900)
 Yugoslavia 8 (1896)
 Czechoslovakia 9 (1888)
 Soviet Union 10 (1883)
 France 13 (1835)
 Scotland 14 (1824)
 Sweden 17 (1800)
 Mexico 20 (1778)
 Paraguay 21 (1750)
 Northern Ireland 26 (1731)
 Wales 28 (1713)
 South Korea 31 (1687)
 United Arab Republic 39 (1623)
1962 FIFA World Cup
Team Ranking
(29 May 1962)
 Brazil 1 (2102)
 Soviet Union 2 (2036)
 Argentina 3 (1979)
 Czechoslovakia 4 (1975)
 Yugoslavia 5 (1971)
 Spain 6 (1961)
 Hungary 7 (1951)
 England 8 (1935)
 Uruguay 9 (1904)
 West Germany 10 (1894)
 Italy 15 (1853)
 Mexico 16 (1809)
 Bulgaria 21 (1763)
 Chile 23 (1739)
  Switzerland 26 (1715)
 South Korea 28 (1699)
 Egypt 36 (1667)
 Colombia 85 (1441)
1966 FIFA World Cup
Team Ranking
(10 July 1966)
 Brazil 1 (2018)
 Soviet Union 2 (2001)
 England 3 (1991)
 Italy 4 (1967)
 Argentina 5 (1964)
 Hungary 6 (1959)
 West Germany 7 (1947)
 Czechoslovakia 8 (1897)
 Spain 9 (1892)
 Mexico 10 (1866)
 Ghana 11 (1864)
 Uruguay 13 (1846)
 North Korea 15 (1838)
 Portugal 16 (1829)
 Bulgaria 17 (1797)
 France 23 (1754)
 Chile 24 (1750)
 Costa Rica 25 (1747)
 Bolivia 32 (1694)
  Switzerland 39 (1641)
 Israel 57 (1537)
1970 FIFA World Cup
Team Ranking
(30 May 1970)
 England 1 (2067)
 Brazil 2 (2012)
 Italy 3 (2005)
 West Germany 4 (1991)
 Soviet Union 5 (1977)
 Czechoslovakia 6 (1959)
 Hungary 7 (1914)
 East Germany 8 (1889)
 Uruguay 9 (1848)
 Sweden 10 (1842)
 Bulgaria 16 (1810)
 Romania 19 (1793)
 Belgium 22 (1772)
 Peru 30 (1711)
 Mexico 32 (1696)
 Morocco 36 (1687)
 Sudan 37 (1679)
 Israel 39 (1671)
 Iran 44 (1635)
 El Salvador 66 (1535)
1974 FIFA World Cup
Team Ranking
(12 June 1974)
 Brazil 1 (2116)
 West Germany 2 (2109)
 Italy 3 (1999)
 England 4 (1967)
 Poland 5 (1959)
 East Germany 6 (1940)
 Yugoslavia 7 (1934)
 Hungary 8 (1905)
 Argentina 9 (1894)
 Soviet Union 10 (1891)
 Sweden 11 (1883)
 Netherlands 16 (1839)
 Scotland 17 (1821)
 Bulgaria 18 (1819)
 Zaire 21 (1787)
 Chile 23 (1780)
 Uruguay 27 (1754)
 Australia 32 (1693)
 Haiti 46 (1609)
 Iran 52 (1596)
 New Zealand 80 (1447)
1978 FIFA World Cup
Team Ranking
(31 May 1978)
 West Germany 1 (2096)
 Netherlands 2 (2092)
 Brazil 3 (2078)
 England 4 (1996)
 Spain 5 (1959)
 East Germany 6 (1953)
 Scotland 7 (1944)
 Italy 8 (1935)
 Poland 9 (1929)
 Argentina 10 (1925)
 Hungary 12 (1921)
 Czechoslovakia 13 (1897)
 France 14 (1881)
 Austria 15 (1860)
 Mexico 21 (1793)
 Sweden 22 (1792)
 Iran 24 (1773)
 Peru 25 (1755)
 Ghana 32 (1715)
 Tunisia 34 (1680)
 New Zealand 69 (1516)
1982 FIFA World Cup
Team Ranking
(12 June 1982)
 West Germany 1 (2108)
 Brazil 2 (2092)
 Soviet Union 3 (2010)
 Argentina 4 (2003)
 England 5 (1963)
 Poland 6 (1959)
 Austria 7 (1917)
 Yugoslavia 8 (1916)
 Belgium 9 (1913)
 East Germany 10 (1910)
 Czechoslovakia 11 (1898)
 Italy 13 (1892)
 Spain 14 (1888)
 France 15 (1879)
 Scotland 17 (1837)
 Hungary 18 (1799)
 Peru 22 (1775)
 Chile 23 (1771)
 Northern Ireland 27 (1740)
 Ghana 31 (1714)
 Paraguay 34 (1688)
 Cameroon 37 (1665)
 Algeria 40 (1645)
 Kuwait 42 (1632)
 El Salvador 46 (1610)
 Honduras 48 (1600)
 New Zealand
1986 FIFA World Cup
Team Ranking
(30 May 1986)
 France 1 (1994)
 England 2 (1990)
 Soviet Union 3 (1941)
 West Germany 4 (1939)
 Brazil 5 (1914)
 Spain 6 (1900)
 Denmark 7 (1891)
 Hungary 8 (1890)
 Italy 9 (1883)
 Scotland 10 (1874)
 Argentina 12 (1872)
 Northern Ireland 15 (1850)
 Mexico 16 (1843)
 Bulgaria 17 (1841)
 Uruguay 19 (1831)
 Belgium 21 (1823)
 Paraguay 22 (1811)
 Portugal 23 (1807)
 Poland 24 (1805)
 Canada 35 (1653)
 Australia 36 (1646)
 Morocco 37 (1645)
 Egypt 41 (1640)
 South Korea 44 (1624)
 Iraq 47 (1616)
 Algeria 48 (1615)
 Saudi Arabia 72 (1528)
1990 FIFA World Cup
Team Ranking
(7 June 1990)
 Netherlands 1 (2032)
 West Germany 2 (1994)
 Brazil 3 (1991)
 Italy 4 (1965)
 Sweden 5 (1954)
 England 6 (1944)
 Soviet Union 6 (1944)
 Spain 8 (1926)
 France 9 (1911)
 Romania 10 (1895)
 Yugoslavia 12 (1893)
 Republic of Ireland 14 (1891)
 Uruguay 15 (1890)
 Czechoslovakia 18 (1855)
 Belgium 19 (1845)
 Colombia 20 (1799)
 Argentina 21 (1794)
 Algeria 23 (1781)
 Austria 26 (1765)
 South Korea 27 (1749)
 Scotland 29 (1739)
 Australia 36 (1678)
 Egypt 40 (1642)
 Cameroon 43 (1635)
 Costa Rica 49 (1611)
 United States 51 (1586)
 United Arab Emirates 76 (1461)
1994 FIFA World Cup
Team Ranking
(16 June 1994)
 Germany 1 (2009)
 Netherlands 2 (1992)
 Italy 3 (1986)
 Brazil 4 (1963)
 Colombia 5 (1942)
 FR Yugoslavia 6 (1932)
 France 7 (1930)
 Denmark 8 (1923)
 Argentina 9 (1915)
 Sweden 10 (1907)
 Spain 11 (1893)
 Republic of Ireland 13 (1881)
  Switzerland 14 (1873)
 Russia 15 (1866)
 Mexico 18 (1853)
 Norway 19 (1852)
 Romania 21 (1837)
 Belgium 22 (1824)
 Bulgaria 25 (1771)
 Nigeria 28 (1742)
 Australia 29 (1724)
 Bolivia 31 (1701)
 Greece 33 (1689)
 Cameroon 35 (1684)
 Morocco 37 (1672)
 South Korea 41 (1665)
 Saudi Arabia 45 (1640)
 Japan 49 (1632)
 United States 56 (1605)
1998 FIFA World Cup
Team Ranking
(9 June 1998)
 Brazil 1 (2095)
 Germany 2 (2060)
 Spain 3 (2040)
 France 4 (2003)
 England 5 (1973)
 Italy 6 (1970)
 FR Yugoslavia
 Netherlands 8 (1961)
 Norway 9 (1904)
 Argentina 10 (1890)
 Denmark 12 (1880)
 Romania 13 (1877)
 Croatia 15 (1871)
 Mexico 17 (1846)
 Belgium 19 (1820)
 Bulgaria 20 (1806)
 Australia 21 (1800)
 Chile 22 (1779)
 Scotland 23 (1777)
 South Korea 24 (1767)
 Colombia 25 (1762)
 United States 26 (1760)
 Paraguay 29 (1739)
 Japan 30 (1737)
 Morocco 32 (1729)
 Austria 35 (1717)
 Egypt 36 (1709)
 Nigeria 37 (1707)
 Jamaica 47 (1649)
 Saudi Arabia
 Iran 49 (1647)
 South Africa 50 (1643)
 Tunisia 52 (1638)
 Cameroon 59 (1598)
2002 FIFA World Cup
Team Ranking
(30 May 2002)
 France 1 (2096)
 Argentina 2 (2015)
 Netherlands 3 (2010)
 Italy 4 (2009)
 Portugal 5 (1980)
 Spain 6 (1963)
 England 7 (1924)
 Denmark 8 (1885)
 Croatia 9 (1880)
 Republic of Ireland 10 (1874)
 Germany 12 (1870)
 Brazil 13 (1867)
 Sweden 14 (1864)
 Japan 15 (1853)
 Belgium 17 (1838)
 Mexico 18 (1832)
 Australia 19 (1829)
 Uruguay 21 (1812)
 United States 22 (1809)
 Cameroon 23 (1808)
 Russia 24 (1801)
 Nigeria 26 (1769)
 Costa Rica 28 (1757)
 Turkey 28 (1757)
 Slovenia 32 (1743)
 South Korea 33 (1734)
 Poland 35 (1733)
 Paraguay 36 (1729)
 Ecuador 37 (1726)
 Saudi Arabia 38 (1706)
 Senegal 40 (1702)
 China 41 (1700)
 South Africa 50 (1645)
 Tunisia 52 (1626)
2006 FIFA World Cup
Team Ranking
(8 June 2006)
 Brazil 1 (2034)
 Netherlands 2 (1995)
 England 3 (1973)
 France 3 (1973)
 Czech Republic 5 (1972)
 Spain 6 (1964)
 Italy 7 (1944)
 Argentina 8 (1922)
 Portugal 9 (1915)
 Germany 10 (1897)
 Sweden 12 (1861)
 Croatia 15 (1838)
 Mexico
 United States
 Poland 19 (1822)
 Iran 20 (1813)
 Greece 22 (1804)
 Australia 23 (1802)
 Serbia and Montenegro 24 (1799)
  Switzerland 25 (1798)
 Ukraine 26 (1790)
 Japan 27 (1789)
 Paraguay 30 (1779)
 Ivory Coast 32 (1768)
 Egypt 35 (1747)
 South Korea 36 (1731)
 Costa Rica 38 (1724)
 Tunisia 43 (1708)
 Ecuador 45 (1699)
 Ghana 55 (1618)
 Saudi Arabia 63 (1584)
 Trinidad and Tobago 66 (1568)
 Angola 68 (1565)
 Togo 88 (1491)
2010 FIFA World Cup
Team Ranking
(10 June 2010)
 Spain 1 (2112)
 Brazil 2 (2110)
 Netherlands 3 (2043)
 England 4 (2001)
 Germany 5 (1958)
 Italy 6 (1937)
 Argentina 7 (1920)
 Mexico 8 (1900)
 Croatia 9 (1894)
 Chile 10 (1887)
 Portugal 11 (1876)
 France 12 (1861)
 Uruguay 14 (1844)
 Serbia 15 (1842)
 Egypt 16 (1833)
 United States 20 (1786)
 Denmark 21 (1779)
 Australia 22 (1777)
 South Korea 24 (1766)
 Paraguay 25 (1765)
  Switzerland 26 (1761)
 Ivory Coast 31 (1740)
 Greece 32 (1737)
 Honduras 36 (1716)
 Nigeria
 Cameroon 40 (1697)
 Ghana 41 (1688)
 Slovenia 43 (1686)
 Japan 44 (1681)
 Slovakia 47 (1671)
 South Africa 63 (1594)
 Iraq 75 (1558)
 Algeria 79 (1542)
 North Korea 80 (1539)
 New Zealand 82 (1531)
2014 FIFA World Cup
Team Ranking
(11 June 2014)
 Brazil 1 (2138)
 Spain 2 (2109)
 Germany 3 (2073)
 Argentina 4 (2019)
 Netherlands 5 (1986)
 Portugal 6 (1943)
 England 7 (1932)
 Colombia 8 (1922)
 Chile 9 (1920)
 Uruguay 10 (1919)
 France 11 (1897)
 Italy 12 (1888)
 United States 13 (1858)
  Switzerland 14 (1856)
 Belgium 15 (1853)
 Russia 16 (1849)
 Ecuador 18 (1837)
 Greece 19 (1824)
 Croatia 20 (1819)
 Mexico 21 (1814)
 Bosnia and Herzegovina 23 (1787)
 Japan 24 (1786)
 Ivory Coast 25 (1776)
 Nigeria 30 (1724)
 Iran 32 (1714)
 Costa Rica 33 (1712)
 Ghana 34 (1710)
 Australia 37 (1709)
 Honduras 46 (1670)
 South Korea 47 (1668)
 Algeria 54 (1628)
 Cameroon 57 (1617)
 Tahiti 153 (1226)
2018 FIFA World Cup
Team Ranking
(13 June 2018)
 Brazil 1 (2142)
 Germany 2 (2077)
 Spain 3 (2044)
 France 4 (1987)
 Argentina 5 (1986)
 Portugal 6 (1970)
 England 7 (1948)
 Belgium 8 (1939)
 Colombia 9 (1928)
 Peru 10 (1915)
 Uruguay 12 (1894)
  Switzerland 14 (1890)
 Chile 15 (1869)
 Denmark 16 (1856)
 Croatia 17 (1853)
 Mexico 18 (1850)
 Poland 19 (1831)
 Sweden 20 (1795)
 Iran 21 (1789)
 Serbia 22 (1777)
 Iceland 24 (1764)
 United States
 Senegal 27 (1750)
 Costa Rica 32 (1744)
 Australia 33 (1742)
 Morocco 36 (1733)
 South Korea 40 (1714)
 Japan 43 (1684)
 Nigeria 44 (1681)
 Russia 45 (1678)
 Panama 48 (1659)
 Tunisia 49 (1657)
 Egypt 50 (1646)
 Cameroon 52 (1645)
 Saudi Arabia 63 (1591)
 New Zealand 81 (1503)

See also

External links

References

  1. "The World Football Elo Rating System". Eloratings.net. Retrieved 26 February 2012.
  2. J. Lasek, Z. Szlávik and S. Bhulai (2013), The predictive power of ranking systems in association football, Int. J. Applied Pattern Recognition1: 27-46.
  3. FIFA Council, 2026 FIFA World Cup™: FIFA Council designates bids for final voting by the FIFA Congress, 10 Jun 2018
  4. ^ FIFA council, Revision of the FIFA / Coca-Cola World Ranking
  5. "World Football Elo Ratings". Elo ratings. Retrieved 30 June 2018.
  6. "FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking" (Press release). FIFA. 7 June 2018. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
  7. Graph of rankings at eloratings.net. Yearly graphs, like this one for 2018, give enough resolution. For individual dates, the Elo ratings table is also a good source.
  8. World Football Elo Ratings; under the columns tab choose "Highest Rank / Rating" as well as "Lowest Rank / Rating"
  9. Arpad E. Elo, The Rating of Chessplayers, Past and Present, Arco, 1978. ISBN 0-668-04721-6.
  10. Arpad Elo, Chess Life, 1962.
  11. About the Chessmetrics Rating System, by Jeff Sonas
  12. Upsets at eloratings.net (per June 2018 this page is under reconstruction)
  13. ^ As the Great Britain national amateur team
  14. Starting Ratings 1930 World Cup at eloratings.net
  15. Starting Ratings 1934 World Cup at eloratings.net
  16. Starting Ratings 1938 World Cup at eloratings.net
  17. Starting Ratings 1950 World Cup at eloratings.net
  18. Starting Ratings 1954 World Cup at eloratings.net
  19. Starting Ratings 1958 World Cup at eloratings.net
  20. Starting Ratings 1962 World Cup at eloratings.net
  21. Starting Ratings 1966 World Cup at eloratings.net
  22. Starting Ratings 1970 World Cup at eloratings.net
  23. Starting Ratings 1974 World Cup at eloratings.net
  24. Starting Ratings 1978 World Cup at eloratings.net
  25. Starting Ratings 1982 World Cup at eloratings.net
  26. Starting Ratings 1986 World Cup at eloratings.net
  27. Starting Ratings 1990 World Cup at eloratings.net
  28. Starting Ratings 1994 World Cup at eloratings.net
  29. Starting Ratings 1998 World Cup at eloratings.net
  30. Starting Ratings 2002 World Cup at eloratings.net
  31. Starting Ratings 2006 World Cup at eloratings.net
  32. Starting Ratings 2010 World Cup at eloratings.net
  33. Starting Ratings 2014 World Cup at eloratings.net
International association football
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