Greeks on the march ,Turks drop to 10th Place

[Blackeagle]

As expected, the latest FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking shows the effects of EURO 2004 and recent FIFA World Cup™ qualifying matches. France and Spain are unable to close the gap on leaders Brazil and the top European duo may also count themselves rather fortunate not to have been overtaken by the Czech Republic (4th, up 7).

The Czechs, meanwhile, saw their dreams dashed by this month's sensations, Greece. Having climbed possibly the greatest ever number of places in the upper reaches of the ranking, the new European champions (14th, up 21) are in their highest ever position. They also put paid to Portuguese hopes of rejoining the top ten (12th, up 10), while the progress of England (8th, up 5) and the USA (7th, up 2), the latter sailing in the slipstream of EURO 2004, is also worthy of note.

Just two years before hosting the FIFA World Cup™, Germany (12th, down 4) are faced with the prospect of slipping further down the ranking, particularly as the hosts will now be playing friendly matches and not World Cup qualifiers, games that reward successful teams with a high number of points.

Outside Europe, a number of teams make good progress on the back of impressive performances in 2006 FIFA World Cup™ qualifiers. Teams from CAF and CONCACAF catch the eye more than most, with the following teams climbing more than ten places: Ghana (71st, up 18 - the second biggest mover of the month), Trinidad and Tobago (63rd, up 14), Cuba (66th, up 14), Libya (70th, up 12), Panama (106th, up 14), St. Kitts and Nevis (108th, up 12), Korea DPR (114th, up 11) and Cape Verde Islands (134th, up 12).

- The next FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking will be published on 4 August 2004...

Rank Team Pts:

1 Brazil 835 1 0 1 0

2 France 813 2 0 2 0

3 Spain 792 3 0 3 0

4 Czech Republic 762 11 7 6 2

5 Netherlands 748 5 0 4 -1

6 Mexico 743 4 -2 7 1

7 USA 735 9 2 11 4

8 England 733 13 5 8 0

9 Italy 729 10 1 10 1

10 Turkey 723 5 -5 8 -2

11 Argentina 722 5 -6 5 -6

12 Portugal 715 22 10 17 5

12 Germany 715 8 -4 12 0

14 Greece 710 35 21 30 16

15 Denmark 706 15 0 13 -2

16 Cameroon 702 12 -4 14 -2

16 Republic of Ireland 702 14 -2 14 -2

18 Nigeria 697 16 -2 35 17

19 Sweden 686 18 -1 19 0

20 Korea Republic 670 20 0 22 2

21 Iran 664 19 -2 28 7

21 Saudi Arabia 664 24 3 26 5

23 Croatia 662 20 -3 20 -3

24 Japan 660 23 -1 29 5

24 Belgium 660 17 -7 16 -8

25 Russia 655 31 5 24 -2

[drakos13]

those rankings are a disgrace to football.

in the last 25 matches we have lost 3 times.

we went on a 15 unbeaten friendly streak then win the European cup and teams like Mexico and the USA are ranked above us. Not to mention Portugal is still above us and s%$#! we played them 3 times recently with 2 wins and a tie.

these are a joke.

[Yaniotis1]

Couldn't have said it better my self. Whoever follows these things is fooling himself.