FIFA Women's World Rankings

Top 30 Rankings as of 27 March 2015[1]
RankChangeTeamPoints
1 Steady  Germany 2168
2 Steady  United States 2158
3 Steady  France 2103
4 Steady  Japan 2066
5 Steady  Sweden 2008
6 Steady  England 2001
7 Increase 1  Brazil 1984
8 Increase 1  Canada 1969
8 Decrease 1  North Korea 1969
10 Steady  Australia 1968
11 Increase 1  Norway 1933
12 Decrease 1  Netherlands 1919
13 Increase 1  Italy 1875
14 Increase 1  Spain 1867
15 Increase 1  Denmark 1848
16 Decrease 3  China PR 1847
17 Increase 1  New Zealand 1832
18 Decrease 1  South Korea 1830
19 Steady   Switzerland 1813
20 Steady  Iceland 1812
21 Steady  Scotland 1795
22 Decrease 1  Russia 1783
23 Increase 1  Ukraine 1772
24 Decrease 1  Finland 1770
25 Steady  Mexico 1748
26 Increase 1  Austria 1711
27 Decrease 1  Belgium 1700
28 Steady  Colombia 1692
29
 Increase 1  Czech Republic 1654
Increase 1  Thailand 1654
Complete rankings at Fifa.com

The FIFA Women's World Rankings for football were introduced in 2003,[2] with the first rankings published in March of that year, as a follow-on to the existing FIFA World Rankings for men. They attempt to compare the strength of internationally active women's national teams at any given time.

Specifics of the ranking system

The first two points result in a FIFA Women's World Rankings system which is far more similar to the Elo football rating system; ratings for teams with fewer than 30 matches should be considered provisional.

Leaders

FIFA Women's
World Ranking leaders
Germany women's national football team United States women's national soccer team Germany women's national football team United States women's national soccer team Germany women's national football team United States women's national soccer team Germany women's national football team Germany women's national football team United States women's national soccer team United States women's national soccer team

To date Germany and the USA have been the only two teams to have led the rankings. Between them, they held the top two spots from the third set of rankings in October 2003, immediately after the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup, through the December 2008 rankings. Germany was third behind Norway in the first two rankings, and dropped out of the top two in March 2009, replaced by Brazil, though their successful 2009 Euro title defense pushed them back into the top two for the September 2009 ranking, where they have remained.

The latest version of the FIFA/Coca-Cola Women’s World Ranking, released in March 2015, saw no movement among the top six teams and no nations enter the top 10. Germany retained its hold on the top spot, although the USA closed the gap with its victory in the Algarve Cup.[3]

Ranking procedure

The rankings are based on the following formulae:[4]

R_{aft} = R_{bef} + K (S_{act} - S_{exp})
S_{exp} = \frac{1}{1 + 10^{-x/2}}
x = \frac{R_{bef} - O_{bef} \pm H}{c}

Where

R_{aft}= The team rating after the match
R_{bef}= The team rating before the match
K= 15 M, the weighted importance of the match
S_{act}= The actual result of the match, see below
S_{exp}= The expected result of the match
x= The scaled difference in rating points between the teams
O_{bef}= The opposing team's rating before the match
H= The "home advantage" correction, see below
c= A scaling factor, see below
M= The "Match Importance Factor", see below

These formulae are designed such that beginning teams can expect a ranking of roughly 1000 points, while top-level teams can exceed 2000 points. In order to be ranked, a team must have played at least 5 matches against officially ranked teams, and have not been inactive for more than 18 months. Even if teams are not officially ranked, their points rating is kept constant.

Actual result of the match

The main component of the actual result is whether the team wins, loses, or draws, but goal difference is also taken into account.

If the match results in a winner and loser, the loser is awarded a certain percentage (always less than or equal to 20%) of the result based on the goal difference and the number of goals they scored, with the remaining percentage points being awarded to the winner. For example, a 2-1 match has the result awarded 84%-16% respectively, a 4-3 match has the result awarded 82%-18%, and an 8-3 match has the result awarded 96.2%-3.8%. As such, it is possible for a team to lose points even if they win a match, assuming they did not "win by enough".

If the match ends in a draw, both teams are awarded the same results which depends on the total number of goals scored, so the result will not necessarily add up to 100%. For example, a 0-0 draws earns both teams 47% each, a 1-1 draw earns 50% each, and a 4-4 draw earns 52.5% each.[5]

Neutral ground or Home vs. Away

Historically, home teams earn 66% of the points available to them, with away teams earning the other 34%. To account for this, when two teams are not playing on neutral ground, the home team has its R_{bef} inflated by 100 points for the purposes of calculation. That is, if two equally ranked teams playing at one team's home ground, the home team would be expected to win at the same rate a team playing on neutral ground with a 100 point advantage. This 100 point difference corresponds to a 64%-36% advantage in terms of expected result.

This also helps define the scaling constant c, which has a value of 200. In addition to a 100-point difference causing an expected result difference of 64%-36%, it also results in a 300-point difference causing expected results of 85%-15%.[6]

Importance of the match

Match importance Match importance
factor (M)		 K-value
FIFA Women's World Cup match 4 60
Women's Olympic football tournament 4 60
FIFA Women's World Cup qualifier 3 45
Women's Olympic football qualifier 3 45
Women's Continental finals match 3 45
Women's Continental qualifier 2 30
Women's friendly match between two Top 10 teams 2 30
Women's friendly match 1 15

Ranking schedule

Rankings are published four times a year, usually on a Friday.[7]

2015 Rankings schedule
Release date
27 March
10 July
25 September
18 December

See also

Notes and references

External links