Fifa ranking will be used to determine the seeding for final round of AFC WCQ 2018. The new Fifa ranking was released yesterday. Here is the ranking of Asian teams in January Fifa Ranking: 43 Iran 672 pts 51 Korea Republic 617 53 Japan 607 59 Australia 583 64 United Arab Emirates 547 73 Uzbekistan 489 75 Saudi Arabia 474 82 China PR 413 84 Qatar 404 86 Jordan 398 87 Iraq 395 99 Oman 344 107 Kyrgyzstan 324 113 Korea DPR 301 117 Turkmenistan 294 121 Bahrain 285 121 Thailand 285 125 Syria 278 131 Palestine 267 135 Philippines 264 136 Hong Kong 259 140 Lebanon 245 141 Kuwait 242 For February Fifa ranking, Saudi Arabia will have 571 points and Australia will have 510. This means that Saudi Arabia will be fourth Asian team in next Fifa ranking (February). No match in the March, so I do not expect much changes for March Fifa ranking. The draw for final round is in April 14, 2016. If they use the last Fifa ranking before draw, it will be April one. So we do not know the final seeding yet, and the results of March matches can have significant effects on April Ranking. If we do not see Australia in top 4 of April Ranking, most teams probably prefer to avoid Australia. If there is going to be any discussion about Fifa ranking before the final draw, it can be in this thread.
Saudi Arabia will actually be 3rd with 1 more point than Japan and only 9 points behind South Korea. Unless this changes by April, they shouldn't use the Fifa rankings for the final round draw otherwise we could see some ridiculous groups.
Oh you are right. Saudi Arabia will be third. They always use Fifa ranking. In last qualifiers, they used the last Fifa ranking before the final draw. The final draw is in April 14, 2016. So they use the April one most likely.
Well, Asia could have a group of death with three teams from the big 4 and the other group very kind. This could be an advantage for Asia, because one of the big 4 could face the intercontinental play-off with greater chances than a "Bahrain" or a "Jordan". The problem is that i don't want Saudi Arabia, Qatar and UAE in the World Cup...Uzbekistan, North Korea, Iraq, Thailand, Syria...i hope in you Howver UAE - Saudi Arabia in March could be the most important match for the seeding of the April's draw.
I completely agree with you, but who wants to be in death group? I do not. I doubt anyone wants that.
How the F*** is this F**KING POSSIBLE? I just checked and they just randomly get 97 points out of their ass. While every other team drops points for no reason. If this isn't a god damned clear example of arab money buying points I don't know what is.
Just looking at these retarded rankings we're gonna get something like Iran, Japan, Australia, Uzbek group vs Korea, Saudi, UAE, Qatar...
It is still early to predict the groups of final round. The uae vs. Saudi Arabia match in March will be the most important match for final seeding. Currently Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, and Uae are in better position than Australia for better seed. Obviously no one wants to be in death group. However If Japan and Australia do not get back their third and fourth place in Fifa ranking of Asian teams by April, I definitely want to avoid one of those two teams more than Korea. If they get their third and fourth place back, then I prefer to avoid Korea. Anyway although no one wants to be in death group and I am one of them, I believe in our team regardless draw.
2015 Asian Cup results become less important after a full year went on... KSA did horrible there so they stand to gain points, unlike a team like Australia
It's fine I'd rather not have our team go to Saudi and have to wait in their airport for 10 hours for fingerprints even thought they've been there about 12x over the years for ACL clubs.
If I try, I can made a better ranking for FIFA teams .... this is a sh%& made by fifa )) and this is for all confederations, not for Asia what is sad ... that AFC put this ranking in consideration for ACL slots
I'm in the same boat, it might be good to have a strong group so a strong team can make the interconfederational playoff, let's just hope Mexico doesn't under perform again.
Very good thread. Fifa rankings will be also important for the afc cup qualifiers. That's why some teams will play friendly games on February. Uzbekistan can take also to the position 4... I don't think we will know it before March 29th
Here is the February ranking and the April one will be used for final seeding most likely: 49.Iran 626 points 60. Korea republic 580 pts. 61.Saudiarabia 571 pts. 62.Japan 569 pts. 67.UAE 520 pts. 69.Australia 510 pts. 70. Uzbekistan 502 pts. 80.Qatar 444 pts. 92.Iraq 372 pts. 98. Korea dpr 350 pts. 120.Thailand 286 pts. 125. Syria 278 pts.
I'm wondering if the qualifiers game in march can boost the points for Australia and Japan. If not I want Korea, Japan, UAE, Uzbekistan, North Korea, and Thailand.
Well, in the April ranking the top 4 should be in pot 1 & 2. If the matches go like predicted here: Football rankings: 2018 FIFA World Cup AFC sims (18 December 2015)
Along with some poor performances dropping back to previous years affecting those years average results and also having a smaller weighting. Australia's drop is due to the Asian Cup results dropping back to previous years and thus having a lower weighting.
Australia since the Asian Cup has won 5, lost 1 and drawn 2 (inc. a 2-2 draw with Germany in Germany, the other draw was against Macedonia in Macedonia). Australia has only played 2 of those 8 games at home. Yet they could fall to 6th in Asia?
I think the current ELO ratings are a lot more reflective of the "true" standing of teams in the world. For Asia the standings are: (S. Korea may be ranked a bit too high, but more realistic than 50th). 19th South Korea 30th Japan 34th Iran 39th Australia 48th Uzbekistan 51st UAE 70th Qatar 71st China 77th North Korea 78th KSA 78th Jordan http://www.eloratings.net/world_cup_asia.html
None of these games get the weighting boost that the Asian Cup had. Friendlies are multiplied by 1, WCQ by 2.5 and the Asian Cup Finals matches by 3. The Asian Cup matches will lose half their value in February. The draw against Germany, even though on paper looks a great result, was the 3rd lowest scoring game for us (the Macedonia draw and the loss to Jordan being the two lower).
Therein lies the problem with FIFA's ranking IMO. Also where the ELO ranking is superior, in that it accounts more so for the opposition's rank, where the game is played, and the nature of the event. Also believe the ELO ranking accounts for a longer period too. I don't think anyone seriously would believe Saudi Arabia should be ranked higher than Australia, or that Belgium are the number 1 team in the world (and Germany 4th).