Ukraine is back in the top 25 of the FIFA rankings
Progress for Ukraine for the second month in a row.
The International Football Federation (FIFA) has presented an updated ranking of men’s national teams after the final qualifying matches for the World Cup, which took place in November 2021.
Qualifying matches were held in registration confederations, in particular, in the European one. Ukraine, in turn, at this stage of the selection played only one match against Bosnia and Herzegovina (2: 0) and secured a place in the playoffs of the World Cup.
Due to this, Ukraine has been improving its ranking for the second month. So, from the 26th place “blue-October” rose to the 25th – for the first time since August 2021.
At the same time, in October, when Oleksandr Petrakov’s team beat Finland (2: 1) and drew with Bosnia and Herzegovina (1: 1), Ukraine rose in this list for the first time in a year. In October 2020, the national team of Ukraine ranked 23rd in the FIFA rankings. Since then, the Ukrainians have fallen to four positions, and only last month interrupted this decline.
Read also: Updated FIFA rating: the national team of Ukraine rose to 26th place
Now Ukraine, having risen to the 25th step, is ahead of the two-time winners of the World Cup – the national team of Poland, which moved from the 23rd to the 27th.
No changes took place in the top three strongest teams. Belgium continues to be the leader, with Brazil in second place and France closing the top 3.
FIFA rankings updated
- 1. Belgium – 1828.45
- 2. Brazil – 1826.35
- 3. France – 1786.15
- 4. England – 1755.52, +1
- 5. Argentina – 1750.51, +1
- 6. Italy – 1740.77, -2
- 7. Spain – 1704.75
- 8. Portugal – 1660.25
- 9. Denmark – 1654.54, +1
- 10. The Netherlands – 1653.73, +1
…
- 25. Ukraine – 1535.08, +1
What is known
- The draw for the play-off stadium in the selection for the 2022 World Cup will take place on November 26. Start – at 18:00 Kyiv time.
- Ukraine is a non-seeded national team, according to its rivals – Portugal, Scotland, Italy, Russia, Sweden, Wales. However, Ukraine will definitely not meet with Russia, because FIFA will not determine them in the same way of passing the selection.
- Of Ukraine’s potential rivals, only Scotland is lower in the FIFA rankings than Ukraine is 38th. All other teams – Portugal (8th), Italy (6th), Wales (19th) and Sweden (17th) – are higher than the “blue-yellows”.
- Ukraine played four times in the playoffs for the World Cup – in 1998, 2002, 2010 and 2014. All four roses – lost (Croatia, Germany, Greece and France).
Read also: Selection for the 2022 FIFA World Cup: in what formats will the playoffs for the tournament