The Fallacy Of FIFA Ranking - A Comparative Analysis Of Nigeria & Cape Verde The Fallacy Of FIFA Ranking - A Comparative Analysis Of Nigeria & Cape Verde I have always defended the Fifa rankings with the thinking being that it was as fair as possible with a transparent algorithm to boot! But how is it possible that Cape Verde is ranked 27th in the World and Nigeria ranked 47th? If we are meant to believe that this outcome is based on the results over the last 4 years (i.e. 01.03.2010 To 28.02.2014), i have pasted below the results of all Fifa recognised games played over this period by both teams. Yes, I am aware that importance of matches is also a factor to be considered. I will quickly address this by saying Cape Verde have only ever qualified for a senior FIFA recognised competition ONCE in their history so cannot have played more important games than Nigeria have over this 4 year period. Both teams have been involved in the qualification matches for all competitions so there is no way CapeVerde could have been involved in more important games than Nigeria. No chance!! So here we go.... CAPE VERDE From 01.03.2010 To 28.02.2014 24/05/2010 Covilha Portugal 0:0 Cape Verde Islands - Friendly 11/08/2010 Dakar Senegal 1:0 Cape Verde Islands - Friendly 04/09/2010 Praia Cape Verde Islands 1:0 Mali 10/10/2010 Harare Zimbabwe 0:0 Cape Verde Islands 16/11/2010 Lisbon Cape Verde Islands 2:1 Guinea-Bissau - Friendly 09/02/2011 Obidos Cape Verde Islands 1:0 Burkina Faso - Friendly 26/03/2011 Praia Cape Verde Islands 4:2 Liberia 05/06/2011 Paynesville Liberia 1:0 Cape Verde Islands 03/09/2011 Bamako Mali 3:0 Cape Verde Islands 08/10/2011 Praia Cape Verde Islands 2:1 Zimbabwe 29/02/2012 Antananarivo Madagascar 0:4 Cape Verde Islands 02/06/2012 Freetown Sierra Leone 2:1 Cape Verde Islands 09/06/2012 Praia Cape Verde Islands 1:2 Tunisia 16/06/2012 Praia Cape Verde Islands 3:1 Madagascar 08/09/2012 Praia Cape Verde Islands 2:0 Cameroon 14/10/2012 Yaounde Cameroon 2:1 Cape Verde Islands 14/11/2012 Lisbon Cape Verde Islands 0:1 Ghana - Friendly 09/01/2013 Faro Cape Verde Islands 0:0 Nigeria - Friendly 19/01/2013 Johannesburg South Africa 0:0 Cape Verde Islands 23/01/2013 Durban Morocco 1:1 Cape Verde Islands 27/01/2013 Nelson Mandela Bay/Port Elizabeth Cape Verde Islands 2:1 Angola 02/02/2013 Nelson Mandela Bay/Port Elizabeth Ghana 2:0 Cape Verde Islands 15/06/2013 Praia Cape Verde Islands 1:0 Sierra Leone 14/08/2013 Queluz Gabon 1:1 Cape Verde Islands - Friendly NIGERIA From 01.03.2010 To 28.02.2014 03/03/2010 Abuja Nigeria 5:2 Congo DR - Friendly 25/05/2010 Wattens Nigeria 0:0 Saudi Arabia - Friendly 30/05/2010 Milton Keynes Nigeria 1:1 Colombia - Friendly 06/06/2010 Johannesburg Nigeria 3:1 Korea DPR - Friendly 12/06/2010 Johannesburg Argentina 1:0 Nigeria 17/06/2010 Mangaung/Bloemfontein Greece 2:1 Nigeria 22/06/2010 Durban Nigeria 2:2 Korea Republic 11/08/2010 Suwon Korea Republic 2:1 Nigeria - Friendly 05/09/2010 Calabar Nigeria 2:0 Madagascar 10/10/2010 Conakry Guinea 1:0 Nigeria 09/02/2011 Lagos Nigeria 2:1 Sierra Leone - Friendly 27/03/2011 Abuja Nigeria 4:0 Ethiopia 29/03/2011 Abuja Nigeria 3:0 Kenya 01/06/2011 Abuja Nigeria 4:1 Argentina - Friendly 05/06/2011 Addis Abeba Ethiopia 2:2 Nigeria 04/09/2011 Antananarivo Madagascar 0:2 Nigeria 06/09/2011 Dhaka Argentina 3:1 Nigeria - Friendly 08/10/2011 Abuja Nigeria 2:2 Guinea 11/10/2011 Watford Ghana 0:0 Nigeria - Friendly 12/11/2011 Benin City Nigeria 0:0 Botswana - Friendly 15/11/2011 Kaduna Nigeria 2:0 Zambia - Friendly 11/01/2012 Abuja Nigeria 0:0 Angola - Friendly 15/02/2012 Monrovia Liberia 0:2 Nigeria - Friendly 29/02/2012 Kigali Rwanda 0:0 Nigeria 12/04/2012 Dubai Egypt 3:2 Nigeria - Friendly 23/05/2012 Lima Peru 1:0 Nigeria - Friendly 03/06/2012 Calabar Nigeria 1:0 Namibia 09/06/2012 Blantyre Malawi 1:1 Nigeria 16/06/2012 Calabar Nigeria 2:0 Rwanda 08/09/2012 Paynesville Liberia 2:2 Nigeria 13/10/2012 Calabar Nigeria 6:1 Liberia 14/11/2012Miami Gardens Venezuela 1:3 Nigeria - Friendly 09/01/2013 Faro Cape Verde Islands 0:0 Nigeria - Friendly 21/01/2013 Nelspruit Nigeria 1:1 Burkina Faso 25/01/2013 Nelspruit Zambia 1:1 Nigeria 29/01/2013 Rustenburg Ethiopia 0:2 Nigeria 03/02/2013 Rustenburg Côte dIvoire 1:2 Nigeria 06/02/2013 Durban Mali 1:4 Nigeria 10/02/2013 Johannesburg Nigeria 1:0 Burkina Faso 23/03/2013 Calabar Nigeria 1:1 Kenya 31/05/2013 Houston Mexico 2:2 Nigeria - Friendly 05/06/2013 Nairobi Kenya 0:1 Nigeria 12/06/2013 Windhoek Namibia 1:1 Nigeria 17/06/2013 Belo Horizonte Tahiti 1:6 Nigeria 20/06/2013 Salvador Nigeria 1:2 Uruguay 23/06/2013 Fortaleza Nigeria 0:3 Spain 06/07/2013 Kaduna Nigeria 4:1 Côte dIvoire - Friendly 27/07/2013 Abidjan Côte dIvoire 2:0 Nigeria - Friendly 14/08/2013 Durban South Africa 0:2 Nigeria - Friendly 07/09/2013 Calabar Nigeria 2:0 Malawi 10/09/2013 Kaduna Nigeria 4:1 Burkina Faso - Friendly 13/10/2013 Addis Ababa Ethiopia 1:2 Nigeria 28/10/2013 Amman Jordan 1:0 Nigeria - Friendly 16/11/2013 Calabar Nigeria 2:0 Ethiopia 18/11/2013 London Italy 2:2 Nigeria - Friendly 04/01/2014 Abuja Nigeria 2:1 Ethiopia - Friendly 11/01/2014 Cape Town Mali 2:1 Nigeria - Friendly 15/01/2014 Cape Town Nigeria 4:2 Mozambique - Friendly 19/01/2014 Cape Town South Africa 1:3 Nigeria - Friendly 25/01/2014 Cape Town Morocco 3:3 Nigeria - Friendly 29/01/2014 Mangaung/Bloemfontein Nigeria 0:0 Ghana - Friendly 01/02/2014 Cape Town Zimbabwe 0:1 Nigeria - Friendly Note: CHAN games are considered friendlies by FIFA From the above results youll get the following tables Nigeria FRIENDLIES P W D L 30 13 10 7 Nigeria COMPETITIVE P W D L 32 17 10 5 Cape Verde FRIENDLIES P W D L 7 2 3 2 Cape Verde COMPETITIVE P W D L 16 7 3 6 With these stats being the basis of the ranking how have Cape Verde managed to accrue 799 Points to Nigerias 616? the gap is not even a close one! Cape Verde are far less active on the internatioal scene and in 4 years of competitive football they have only managed to beat Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Cameroun, Tunisia, Liberia and Sierra Leone! The have not beaten any other team! Infact they have lost to the likes of Liberia and Sierra Leone in competitive games during that time. In conclusion the current FIFA Ranking procedure is thoroughly flawed and cannot be taken seriously in any way. I think the ELO ranking while with its own issues is a far more comprehensible method of ranking teams, perhaps FIFA may adopt it in the near future, while they research better methods to replace the crap they have going at the moment.
Posted on: Sat, 15 Feb 2014 18:49:10 +0000
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