FIFA revises World Ranking system, to follow a modified version of the Elo system now

What’s the story?

The Elo rating system will officially be used for football and new rankings will be reflected after the World Cup concludes. The Elo system has been widely used in sports such as chess and a modified version of the same has been drafted for football.

In case you didn’t know…

The present system is based on averaging points and had been receiving severe backlash from all around the world. It will now be replaced by the Elo method, wherein points are added/subtracted for a team's individual matches, thereby changing the existing point total.

According to FIFA, the teams would not be displaced in the current ranking table, which brings a relief for India - which is handsomely sitting at 97th presently.

The heart of the matter

Final round competitions such as FIFA World Cup finals will be given much more weight now, as compared to friendly matches, which many believed were lesser important. Whereas within the final round competitions, the group stage matches will be getting lesser importance as compared to the knock-out stage matches.

Losses during the knock-out round of final competitions will not be included in the calculations and matches played with higher ranked teams will carry more points.

Teams of the likes of England, Italy, and Spain have seen a drip in their rankings as they had been playing a lot of friendlies - which led to a drop in their overall score, thanks to the current rating system. A lot of countries had also been avoiding to play friendlies in a bid to sustain their good ranking.

What’s next?

If we were to apply the Elo rankings as things stand, Brazil would be placed at the top in 1st position, with Germany in second, followed by Spain, France, and Argentina in 3rd, 4th, and 5th respectively.

The best part about the new system at first glance is that it is sure to evade the imbalances which were prevalent before. FIFA expects a smooth transition from the current ranking as sports specialists and statisticians sat down to develop the new system.

The new system aims to completely block off the manipulation teams were doing by avoiding matches all together to protect the ranking. This news has certainly come as a boon and a large majority of the football fraternity will be happy with the new method.

What is your opinion on the new method?