Sorry, how in the hell are Belgium still ranked so high? They have done nothing in football the past 7 years that Croatia has not surpassed. Please. (insert eyeroll)
Vatreni are currently on par with Netherlands and Italy. Everyone else in top-10 are better than us. But let’s talk about this Belgium at #8 sham. Why does FIFA have such a hard-on for them? I understand they use some ranking/analytics tool that no one can explain, but a simple eye test should do the trick.
2018 World Cup: Croatia 2nd place; Belgium 3rd place (+1 stage Croatia)
2020 Euro: Croatia Round of 16; Belgium quarterfinals (+1 stage Belgium)
2021 Nations League: Croatia group stage; Belgium semifinals (+1 stage Belgium)
2022 World Cup: Croatia 3rd place; Belgium group stage (+3 stages Croatia)
2023 Nations League: Croatia 2nd place; Belgium group stage (+2 stages Croatia)
2024 Euro: Croatia group stage; Belgium round of 16 (+1 stage Belgium)
2025 Nations League: Croatia quarterfinals, Belgium group stage (+1 stage Croatia)
I know I don’t have perfect math here and results that happened farther back in time should not have the same weight as results that occurred in the past 2 years, however, since the 2018 World Cup in Russia, Croatia has been to +4 stages at major tournaments. I think there is something to be said for that. So again, how the hell is Belgium ranked so high? I could use the same logic for Italy and Netherlands. By the naked eye, I think we would have a net-positive stage performance against those nations since 2018 as well.
because they have “immigrants” on their team.
***.fourfourtwo.com/features/how-do-fifas-world-rankings-work-calculations-explained
Can folks pls read the above before posting (incl. 1,259 FIFA word doc) – it will help increase qualify of opinion/posting here (right now too many are just posting their silly subjective POV what they want the rankings to be, lol)
Denmark is way underrated on this list. They should probably be in Morroco’s spot at #12.
Teams like Iran and Ecuador shouldn’t even be in the top-50 (let alone top-25).
That whole row of USA, Mexico, Iran, Senegal… should be behind Denmark, Switzerland, Austria, and probably Ukraine too.
European teams are so much better than the rest of the World now. It’s not even funny.
Hey man look at the facts on Morocco final 4 in 22 highest place ever for a African country then the bronze in 24 at the OG man Morocco not only should be ahead of Croatia but should be ahead of Brazil and in the top 5
In fact brother Nippon is ranked 16 they are the top Asian team in the world and gave Croatia holy hell in 2022 losing on PK’S. Now they are a dark horse to win the WC in 26 man
With all due respect to Morocco and Japan, but they couldn’t beat Croatia in ‘22. Coach Dalic’s team should be ranked higher than them.
Morocco and Nippon are on the upturn the core of their team are in their 20’s whereas Croatias core is mid 30’s both Morocco and Nippon has tasted success now they are hungry for more man
Can Coach Dalic work his magic for one more World Cup? Let’s hope that Baturina, Petar and Luka Sucic, Matanovic, and Ivanovic develop over the next year. To go with our older players, they can make us formidable again. Viva Zlatko!
Hrvatska couldn’t beat Japan in 2022. The game went to PKs.
How are the USA and Mexico ranked so high? Those two really make no sense…
Russia continues to climb by playing easy friendlies against shit teams.
Belgium sucks. Although in 2018 I thought they were the 2nd best team after us.
I think the FIFA rankings are a fair indication where the countries sit at the moment. It will be hard for us to move into the top ten even if we do extremely well in the qualifiers? reason being that countries like Gibraltar, Faroes and Montenegro don’t carry too many ranking points for wins against them.
If we have a bit of a stumble, I can see us being overtaken by some South American and African countries?
Belgium is not as good as they used to be, and they have been on a downward trend as far as rankings are concerned.
If Coach Dalic keeps getting us far into these tournaments and does mediocre in qualifying to them, I can live with these rankings. Let Belgium and others do perfect in qualifying, especially as Croatia does well in adversity and with little expected of them. Viva Zlatko!
It’s because they are nearly perfect in their qualifiers and friendlies over the years
Big deal. I’m talking about the games that matter. For sake of conversation, all the big boys (top-15) qualify for every tournament anyways…unless you’re Italian. I’m talking about the games that matter.
The win vs France was worth c.24 points – if we beat them in the 2nd leg – Croatia would be 8th now (ahead of Belgium, Italy, Germany) – if we tied them in 2nd leg 7th or 8th (neck and neck w Belgium (+/- point or two), ahead of Italy and Germany)
Qualifying games matter.