FIFA World Rankings 2015: Wales and Chile Leapfrog England in Latest Standings

  

Wales have leapfrogged England in the official world rankings for the first time in their history, as the latest edition of the FIFA standings was announced on Thursday. Chile have also moved ahead of the Three Lions after their summer triumph in the Copa America.

Chris Coleman’s Welsh side have been in superb form as of late, and they preserved their spot as the ninth-best team in the world. England, despite having won all of their European Championship qualifying matches so far, drop down from eighth into 10th, with the South American champions jumping above both home nations.

Here’s a look at the recently released rankings, which see Argentina rated as the finest international side in world football.

FIFA World Rankings: September 3

Rank	Team	Total Points	+/-
1	Argentina	1442	-
2	Belgium	1269	-
3	Germany	1248	-
4	Colombia	1224	-
5	Brazil	1209	-
6	Portugal	1186	-
7	Romania	1176	-
8	Chile	1149	+2
9	Wales	1146	-
10	England	1143	-2

FIFA.com

For the full standings

The formula that underpins FIFA's rankings is pretty bespoke and far from straightforward. The result, importance of the match, strength of opposition and confederation are given coefficients and multiplied together to provide an overall score. 

Then, another coefficient is applied depending on the other team’s confederation (CONMEBOL 1.00; UEFA 0.99; AFC, CAF, OFC and CONCACAF 0.85), per the governing body's official website. Over time, the value of results decreases.

Wales Continue to Build Momentum

GLYN KIRK/Getty Images

The Welsh have been on a remarkable run. Coleman’s side have showcased steel, style and swagger in their attempts to qualify for the European Championship, now needing just two wins from their remaining four matches to make it to a major tournament for the first time since 1958.

They deserve to be so high in the rankings, too, having languished down in 117th in August 2011. In recent matches, they’ve beaten Belgium, who are ranked in second place, and have forged a core of hard-working players that includes Ashley Williams, Joe Allen and Aaron Ramsey. But it’s Real Madrid’s Gareth Bale who has been the catalyst to their remarkable rise.

David Rogers/Getty Images

Bale has been central to the Wales success story.

As we can see here courtesy of Copa90, out of the spotlight that is forensically trained upon him at the Santiago Bernabeu, Bale seems a lot more relaxed on international duty:

Coleman has insisted that while his side are happy to preserve a competitive position in the rankings, that is not the main aim for him nor his players, per BBC Sport:

We've been low in the rankings and had that rubbed in our face many a time. Now we're doing very well, certain people want to say the rankings are this and they're that, but the players deserve that.

At the same time, the rankings are not going to get us to France. We need to do something no-one's done. Success is getting to France.

England will probably look on in disbelief at the current situation. After all, while no fan of the Three Lions will point to this era as an overly prosperous one for the national side, there’s not much more this team could have done. Manager Roy Hodgson has steered his squad to six wins from six games in the qualifying matches for Euro 2016.

JURE MAKOVEC/Getty Images

Despite some positive recent form, England have dropped in the rankings.

Having rivals Wales go above them will be particularly galling for some, but the Associated Press’ Rob Harris offers an explanation as to why this has happened:

As for the other home nations sides, Scotland are up one place into 31st, while Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland have both dropped one spot into 41st and 51st respectively. The United States move up one spot into 28th.

Elsewhere, Argentina’s run to the final of the Copa America means they remain in top spot, while tournament winners Chile have been bumped up to eighth, the highest they've been in nine years, per FIFA. World champions Germany round off the top three, with South American giants Colombia and Brazil in fourth and fifth respectively.

NELSON ALMEIDA/Getty Images

Chile have moved up after winning the Copa America.

The biggest mover in the new standings was Fiji, who jumped a whopping 17 places up to 181st, while the Seychelles dropped down more than any other side, sagging seven spots into 192nd.

With the climax of the qualifying stages for the European Championship to come, there will be plenty of competitive action on the international stage. Wales will be desperate to get the results they need to qualify for the France showpiece and, in doing so, keep the English at arms length when it comes to what is always an intriguing set of rankings.