World Football Ranking     
2001

Current Rankings


Pos.
Country
Total Points
2001
Points gained
2001
Move
2001
1    Portugal 16.82 0.58 1
2    France 16.63 -0.96 -1
3    England 16.07 2.22 13
4    Netherlands 15.93 0.46 2
5    Argentina 15.9 0.4 -1
6    Sweden 15.84 2.54 19
7    Denmark 15.69 2.45 20
8    Germany 15.65 0.73 0
9    Colombia 15.6 2 8
10    Spain 15.59 0.91 -1
11    Mexico 15.4 2.09 12
12    Uruguay 15.3 1.89 8
13    Belgium 15.21 1.66 5
14    Slovenia 15.08 1.85 14
15    Italy 15.06 -0.43 -10
16    Rep Ireland 15.04 0.39 -6
17    Turkey 14.97 1.8 12
18    Russia 14.97 0.62 -6
19    Finland 14.93 2.27 15
20    Brazil 14.81 -0.9 -17
21    Japan 14.72 0.56 -7
22    Costa Rica 14.55 3.5 38
23    Croatia 14.29 0.89 -2
24    Ecuador 14.23 1.76 14
25    Yugoslavia 14.22 0.03 -12
26    South Korea 13.79 1.45 15
27    Romania 13.73 0.43 -3
28    Venezuela 13.48 3.5 44
29    Ukraine 13.38 0.02 -7
30    Norway 13.37 0.62 2
31    Australia 13.26 1.59 20
32    Poland 13.26 0.54 1
33    Czech Rep 13.12 -1.42 -22
34    Iran 13.09 1.5 18
35    Georgia 13.08 1.01 9
36    Cameroon 12.89 -1.25 -21
37    Nigeria 12.82 2.19 30
38    Greece 12.78 0.18 -2
39    Honduras 12.78 -0.14 -8
40    Tunisia 12.74 1.93 24
41    USA 12.74 0.16 -4
42    N.Ireland 12.73 2.44 27
43    Paraguay 12.7 -2.29 -36
44    Slovakia 12.63 -0.62 -18
45    Scotland 12.52 -0.5 -15
46    Belarus 12.49 1.41 13
47    Israel 12.39 0.01 -7
48    Senegal 12.34 3.04 35
49    Bolivia 12.31 0.24 -4
50    Wales 12.28 0.82 4
51    Switzerland 12.28 -1.21 -32
52    Peru 12.13 0.32 -4
53    Chile 12.03 -0.21 -11
54    Iceland 12.01 -0.06 -8
55    Saudi Arabia 11.97 0.17 -6
56    Albania 11.81 -0.36 -13
57    Hungary 11.77 -0.09 -10
58    Bulgaria 11.67 -0.74 -19
59    Austria 11.66 -0.96 -24
60    China 11.64 0.31 -5
61    Trinidad & Tobago 11.35 -0.13 -8
62    Jamaica 11.23 0.31 0
63    Bosnia-Herzegovina 11.04 -0.29 -7
64    Egypt 10.89 -0.42 -7
65    Cyprus 10.85 0.09 0
66    Lithuania 10.77 2.1 32
67    Togo 10.75 1.44 15
68    Armenia 10.72 -0.1 -5
69    Algeria 10.58 0.87 7
70    Bahrain 10.5 4.26 62
71    South Africa 10.47 -1.23 -21
72    Angola 10.46 1.48 15
73    Latvia 10.41 0.57 0
74    Morocco 10.39 0.9 5
75    Zambia 10.38 2.11 29
76    Oman 10.37 3.81 51
77    Ghana 10.33 0.92 3
78    Zimbabwe 10.32 1.56 18
79    Ivory Coast 10.31 0.54 -4
80    Liberia 10.29 1.47 14
81    Iraq 10.25 0.18 -10
82    El Salvador 10.24 1.21 4
83    Guatemala 10.2 -0.88 -25
84    Azerbaijan 10.08 2.25 26
85    Gabon 10.06 1.18 7
86    Uzbekistan 10.05 1.56 16
87    Canada 10.04 0.25 -13
88    Moldova 9.72 -0.78 -20
89    Macedonia 9.61 -1.06 -23
90    Qatar 9.57 -0.6 -20
91    Malta 9.55 0.66 -1
92    Faroe Islands 9.54 0.99 8
93    Estonia 9.52 -0.11 -15
94    Burkina Faso 9.39 0.49 -5
95    Thailand 9.22 0.25 -7
96    Mali 9.15 0.04 -11
97    UAE 9.15 -0.19 -16
98    Syria 9.13 -0.06 -14
99    Sudan 9.08 2.51 26
100    Kazakhstan 9.06 0.68 3
101    Kuwait 9 -1.96 -40
102    Haiti 8.9 0.78 5
103    Guinea 8.65 -0.99 -26
104    DR Congo 8.56 0.06 -3
105    North Korea 8.55 2.27 26
106    Cuba 8.53 -0.27 -11
107    Lebanon 8.43 0.55 2
108    Ethiopia 8.18 0.71 7
109    Kenya 8.04 1.25 13
110    Congo 7.97 -0.76 -13
111    Luxembourg 7.95 -0.21 -5
112    Libya 7.94 0.13 -1
113    Panama 7.93 -0.65 -14
114    Martinique 7.82 4 43
115    Andorra 7.63 0.72 5
116    Turkmenistan 7.6 1.78 21
117    Mauritius 7.57 0.99 7
118    Burundi 7.53 1.14 11
119    St Kitts & Nevis 7.51 2.54 26
120    Uganda 7.45 -0.81 -15
121    Jordan 7.41 -1.41 -28
122    Madagascar 7.4 -1.48 -31
123    Tanzania 7.39 1.56 13
124    Indonesia 7.32 -0.34 -12
125    Gambia 7.29 1 5
126    New Zealand 7.24 -0.87 -18
127    Lesotho 7.18 0.25 -8
128    Sierra Leone 7.17 0.18 -10
129    Central African Rep 7.09 -0.5 -16
130    Rwanda 7.02 0.19 -9
131    Benin 6.99 0.42 -5
132    Malawi 6.86 0.95 3
133    Tajikistan 6.5 -0.5 -16
134    Swaziland 6.2 2.34 22
135    Mozambique 6.17 0.79 6
136    Equatorial Guinea 6.15 -0.5 -13
137    Eritrea 6.13 0.11 -4
138    Malaysia 6.12 0.56 1
139    Barbados 6.04 -1.1 -23
140    Namibia 6.04 -1.52 -26
141    Cape Verde Islands 5.93 0.55 -1
142    Hong Kong 5.87 0.23 -4
143    Palestine 5.83 0.72 0
144    Guinea Bissau 5.8 1.51 9
145    Grenada 5.8 1.24 4
146    Singapore 5.77 0.74 -2
147    Vietnam 5.64 -0.34 -13
148    Kyrgyzstan 5.59 1.21 3
149    Botswana 5.43 0.7 -2
150    Liechtenstein 5.28 0.81 0
151    St Lucia 5.21 0.36 -5
152    Surinam 5.13 0.78 0
153    Yemen 5.12 1.36 6
154    Mauritania 4.91 -0.45 -12
155    India 4.61 2.11 10
156    San Marino 4.61 1.65 7
157    St Vincent/Grenadines 4.26 -2.14 -29
158    Cayman Islands 4.24 1.48 6
159    Myanmar 4.17 -0.5 -11
160    Bermuda 4.11 -0.14 -6
161    Niger 3.57 -0.5 -6
162    Guadeloupe 3.45 0.35 -1
163    Fiji 3.33 1.53 8
164    Chad 3.26 -0.5 -6
165    Sao Tome & Principe 3.11 -0.5 -5
166    Dominican Rep 2.96 1.04 3
167    Guyana 2.64 1.12 6
168    Belize 2.38 2.22 10
169    Antigua 2.34 -0.74 -7
170    Bangladesh 2.03 0.19 0
171    Taiwan 1.98 0.26 1
172    Neth.Antilles 1.43 -0.5 -4
173    Nicaragua 1.41 -0.56 -6
174    Maldives Rep 1.26 1.99 9
175    Tahiti 1.25 2.6 10
176    Nepal 1.08 2.65 12
177    Dominica 0.95 -1.25 -11
178    Sri Lanka 0.62 0.74 1
179    Solomon Islands 0.57 -0.52 -5
180    Laos 0.51 0.32 -3
181    St Martin 0.35 1.85 8
182    Cambodia 0.19 -0.04 -7
183    Philippines -0.06 -0.29 -7
184    Djibouti -0.31 0.17 -4
185    Somalia -0.5 0.95 2
186    Aruba -1.19 0.43 3
187    Seychelles -1.2 -0.5 -5
188    Mongolia -1.36 1.84 6
189    Brunei -1.52 0.36 1
190    Virgin Islands -1.61 0.97 1
191    New Caledonia -1.87 -0.5 -5
192    Macao -2.05 -1.27 -8
193    Pakistan -2.09 1.04 0
194    Vanuatu -2.35 -1.65 -13
195    Puerto Rico -2.51 0.17 -3
196    Papua New Guinea -4.63 -0.5 -2
197    Bahamas -5.12 0.26 -1
198    Guam -5.54 -0.5 -3
199    Montserrat -5.67 -0.5 -2
200    US Virgin Islands -8.42 -0.35 -3
201    Western Samoa -11.27 -0.93 -3
202    Cook Islands -13.72 1.11 -3
203    Tonga -14.26 1.18 -3
204    Anguilla -16.19 3.04 -2
205    Bhutan -16.4 -0.5 -4
206    American Samoa -31.44 0.65 -3

Big Movers of 2001

Portugal changed places with European and World champions France on the strength of successfully negotiating the road to the next World Cup, while the French having qualified as champions were resigned to playing meaningless friendly matches and despite winning the Confederations Cup in South Korea and Japan narrowly missed out on finishing the year at the top of the rankings. England stormed into 3rd place while Sweden and Denmark also moved into the top ten.

Bahrain failed to qualify for the 2002 World Cup as expected but were the biggest movers after their shock 1-0 win away to Kuwait had taken them to the 2nd stage of the qualifiers where they held Iran to a goalless draw in Tehran before stunning the Iranians 3-1 in their return match to deny them automatic qualification.

Venezuela, normally the whipping boys of South America, proved to be a formidable force at home in World Cup qualifiers upsetting Uruguay 2-0, piercing Peru 3-0 and beating Paraguay 3-1, while on their travels they picked up a 2-0 win in Chile.

Martinique had a successful year beating St Vincent and the Grenadines 3-0 at home, to qualify for the finals in Trinidad & Tobago where they defeated their hosts 2-1 and Barbados 3-1 before eventually finishing 3rd.

Costa Rica moved up in the rankings after hammering Guatemala 5-2 in a Miami playoff to reach the final round where they qualified for the World Cup as group winners with a 2-1 victory away to Mexico and a 3-2 win in Honduras.

Senegal showed that they are an up-and-coming team by topping a difficult World Cup qualifying group that included Morocco, whom they held to a goalless draw in Rabat, and Egypt. The Senegalese proved that their success was not limited to their own continent when they got the better of Asian giants Japan 2-0 in a friendly played in France.

Lithuania will look back at the year and remember holding Italy to a goalless draw in Kaunas, and picking up another point in their 1-1 World Cup qualifier draw away to Hungary while beating Cyprus 2-1 in a Limassol friendly was also an achievement for the Baltic outfit.

Kuwait had a disappointing year losing out to Bahrain on the road to the World Cup after losing to them 1-0 at home and struggling to gain a 1-0 home win over bottom team Singapore who had held them to a 1-1 draw in the away match. The Kuwaitis also lost 5-4 away to Thailand in a friendly.

Paraguay finished bottom of their Copa America group below Peru with whom they drew 3-3 and only just qualified for the World Cup losing away matches 2-1 to Ecuador and 3-1 to Venezuela and ending the year with a huge 4-0 home defeat to the hopeless Colombians.

Switzerland had very little to cheer about, finishing above the Faroe Islands and Luxembourg in their World Cup qualifying group after losing their home matches to Slovenia and Yugoslavia, and getting hammered 4-0 in Russia. The Swiss fared no better in friendly matches letting in 4 goals without reply to Poland in Larnaca and losing 2-0 at home to Sweden.

Madagascar finished second from bottom in both, their continental qualifiers where the lost 2-1 at home to bottom team Namibia, and their World Cup qualifying group where they were comprehensively beaten 3-1 at home and 6-0 away to the Ivory Coast.

The most surprising result of the year came in Saint Martin where Anguilla recorded a rare win thrashing Montserrat 4-1 in a Caribbean qualifier.

The highest score of the year was Australia's 31-0 annihilation of American Samoa in a World Cup qualifier on home soil. The Australian's had humiliated Tonga 22-0 two days earlier.

Three new countries entered the rankings with St Martin the highest at 189th and moving up 8 places after losing only 1-0 to Cuba and overcoming Dominica 3-2 in Caribbean qualifiers in Guyana. Mongolia moved in at 194th and rose 6 places thanks to a respectable 1-0 loss to Vietnam and a 2-2 draw against Bangladesh in World Cup qualifiers in Saudi Arabia. Montserrat moved into 197th position.

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Copyright © 2001 by Mark. All rights reserved.