So Close

[NorthernLights24]

Spain head the Fifa world rankings after triumphing at Euro 2008 in style.

 

Rated fourth in June, it is the first time the Spanish have topped the list since the rankings started in 1992.

 

Former leaders Argentina have slipped to sixth after two disappointing draws in World Cup qualifying, while England have dropped six places to 15th.

 

It is their lowest position since 2001, Scotland are one place behind, Northern Ireland are 33rd, the Republic of Ireland 41st and Wales 54th.

 

England and the rest of the home nations failed to qualify for Euro 2008.

 

However, unbeaten in 22 games, a gifted Spain squad shed their tag as perennial underachievers when they swept all before them at the European Championship in Austria and Switzerland - winning every tie attractively and outplaying Germany when winning the final 1-0.

 

Barcelona midfielder Xavi was named the tournament's best player and was one of nine members of the Spain squad selected among a team of 23 by a panel of Uefa technical experts.

 

 

606: DEBATE

Spanish football has come leaps and bounds during the past decade...

 

MAVERICKROB

 

Germany, as a consequence of their progress in the tournament, have moved up two places to third position behind Italy, who have risen one spot, despite going out of the tournament at the quarter-final stage.

 

Greece, European champions in 2004, suffered a big drop - from eighth to 18th - after failing to make it out of the group stages this time around.

 

Russia's surprise run to the semi-finals resulted in them surging 13 places to 11th, their best ranking in more than 10 years.

 

The ranking system is based on international results over the past four years, with more points awarded for wins in major tournaments.

 

FIFA RANKINGS (previous position in brackets):

 

1. (4) Spain

2. (3) Italy

3. (5) Germany

4. (2) Brazil

5. (10) Netherlands

6. (1) Argentina

7. (15) Croatia

8. (6) Czech Republic

9. (11) Portugal

10. (7) France

11. (24) Russia

12. (12) Romania

13. (13) Cameroon

14. (20) Turkey

15. (9) England

16. (17) Scotland

17. (18) Bulgaria

18. (8) Greece

19. (14) Mexico

20. (16) Ghana

33. (32) Northern Ireland

41. (42) Republic of Ireland

54. (53) Wales

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/i...als/7485052.stm

 

Would have been nice to go above them. N.Ireland has some advantage over the Republic right now.

[Guest SS RED]

The three bigest leagues in Europe, Enlgand, Italy and Spain.

 

Spain - 1st

Italy - 2nd

England - 16th

 

Oh dear, not good at all for England.

[robbo]

now now, be generous SS. They are 15th.

[Guest SS RED]

Oh yeah my mistake.

 

Germany and France above them aswell?

 

Extremely generous on France, we beat them twice and they are 6 places above us?

 

Some acheivment for Scotland to be 16th in the World though, a country of 6 million people.

[robbo]

unless my sources have it wrong, when august comes....should we gain a victory over northern ireland and england fail to beat the czechs then guess what will happen. *rubs hands gleefully*

 

then theyve got andora and croatia away for the world cup qualifiers whereas we have macedonia and iceland away.

 

so come the end of september, theres a very real chance that we could be above them. we might not have gone up but they have a great chance of dropping down.

[OneZanderDiamond]

Depends what the results were 4 years ago that will be wiped from the standings. Considering how crap we were back then we've a fairly good chance of jumping above them.

[florin_raducioiu]

unless my sources have it wrong, when august comes....should we gain a victory over northern ireland and england fail to beat the czechs then guess what will happen. *rubs hands gleefully*

 

then theyve got andora and croatia away for the world cup qualifiers whereas we have macedonia and iceland away.

 

so come the end of september, theres a very real chance that we could be above them. we might not have gone up but they have a great chance of dropping down.

 

 

Depends what the results were 4 years ago that will be wiped from the standings. Considering how crap we were back then we've a fairly good chance of jumping above them.

 

Very true, surely we'll have worse results disappearing than England so that'll help things. Anyone got any idea what results we'll be losing in the next few months, England also?

[macman]

Very true, surely we'll have worse results disappearing than England so that'll help things. Anyone got any idea what results we'll be losing in the next few months, England also?

 

Scotland

 

Wednesday, 18 August, 2004

Scotland 0, Hungary 3.

 

Friday, 3 September, 2004

Spain 1, Scotland 1 (match abandoned after 59 minutes due to floodlight failure) Not sure if this one counts since it was abandoned??

 

Wednesday, 8 September, 2004

Scotland 0, Slovenia 0

 

Saturday, 9 October, 2004

Scotland 0, Norway 1

 

Wednesday, 13 October, 2004

Moldova 1, Scotland 1

 

Wednesday, 17 November, 2004

Scotland 1, Sweden 4

 

 

Engerland

 

18/08/2004 Ukraine International Friendly St James Park 3-0 W

 

2 04/09/2004 Austria World Cup Qualifier Vienna 2-2 D

 

3 08/09/2004 Poland World Cup Qualifier Chorzow 2-1 W

 

4 09/10/2004 Wales World Cup Qualifier Old Trafford 2-0 W

 

5 13/10/2004 Azerbaijan World Cup Qualifier Baku 1-0 W

[Dynamo]

Good stuff, our sh*t results come off, and some Engerlund wins

[minijc]

These rankings are totaly pish, they more or less mean fekall and they are based on stupid stuff.

[johnstrac]

Stupid stuff like football results ?

[aberdeenlad]

I think were well capable of beating both irish teams at the minute!!

[robbo]

Stupid stuff like football results ?

 

football results over the past 5 years nonetheless to discount a 1 off lucky tournament ie greece.