The October FIFA Rankings are out and they appear to remain to be a jumbled, random mess. But while they appear completely biased and unnecessary, they hold a very important role in how teams are seeded for World Cup Qualifying and the World Cup itself so it shouldn’t be ignored.
Anyway, Argentina still leads with Germany passing Belgium for 2nd and Belgium drops to 3rd. With Euro Qualifying going on, this is a big reason why European teams are topping the list.
One of the big movers near the top was Spain, who moved up five spots into 6th and kicking Romania out of the top 10. A little bit lower on the list is the United States in 29th. The US lost a spot compared to last month, they were passed by Russia, who gained six spots to 26th. Mexico also lost a spot because of Russia but are still ahead of the United States in 27th position.
It is important to note that the CONCACAF Cup will provide a huge boost to the USA’s ranking, especially against Mexico. The game will have a multiplier of three on the “importance of match” portion of the formula. That means FIFA is treating this game like a Gold Cup or Confederations Cup game. Because of that, a United States win over Mexico will cause them to overtake Mexico in November’s FIFA Rankings no matter the result of their respective friendlies. And therefore, whichever country wins on October 10, that team will also be the leading CONCACAF country in the FIFA Rankings.
So as we enter another international break week, filled with the CONCACAF Cup, the end of Euro Qualifying and various World Cup Qualifiers. May be a wild change in the FIFA Rankings come November.
