FIFA Releases New Rankings, World Still Confused

Bigus attempting to understand England's new ranking.

FIFA released the newest world rankings this morning, and there have been some minor changes in the top 15 teams. Considering the recent results of the Confederations Cup, it is not surprising that Brazil has vaulted into 1st place, moving up 4 spots and pushing Spain to 2nd. The former were the biggest movers within the top 10, with no one else gaining or losing more than 3 spots. However, there are some new entrants into the top 15 based on results from their past several matches.



Your new top 15 are presented here:

1 (+4) Brazil (1672 pts)
2 (-1) Spain (1590 pts)
3 (-1) Netherlands (1379 pts)
4 (0) Italy (1229 pts)
5 (-2) Germany (1207 pts)
6 (+3) Russia (1161 pts)
7 (-1) England (1135 pts)
8 (-1) Argentina (1091 pts)
9 (+1) France (1082 pts)
10 (-2) Croatia (1031 pts)
11 (+6) Greece (1001 pts)
12 (+2) USA (983 pts)
13 (+3) Switzerland (930 pts)
14 (+6) Serbia (925 pts)
15 (+9) Denmark (909 pts)


So, Greece, Serbia and Denmark all make a significant move and wind up in the top 15 based on recent performance. Brazil and the US get recognition for their achievements in the Confederations Cup, and England lose 1 position from the June rankings (but are back to where they were in May) based solely on Russia moving ahead of them.

But how exactly are these rankings calculated? Well, the rankings cover all international "A" matches over the past 4 years, with the importance of each year gradually declining (from 100%-50%-30%-20%) in reverse order (i.e. the past 12 month period is the most important), and they include the following elements:

(M) is the result of each match for Win-Draw-Loss (3 pts; 1 pt; 0 pts)
(I) is the importance of the match (1=friendly; 4=FIFA World Cup)
(T) is the strength of the opponent ( [200-FIFA ranking]/100 )
(C) is the strength of the opponent's FIFA confederation, which is based on results in the past 3 World Cups (wins per confederation per match)

So, the total points (P) accumulated is calculated as:

P = M x I x T x C x 100

If that's not enough math for the day, you can read the complete details of how the points are calculated in FIFA's handy little guide (PDF warning!).

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Hey Look, Financial Windfalls

Despite the heavy debt loads of some individual clubs, soccer's governing body is swimming in cash. From the AP:

FIFA said Wednesday that it turned a $184 million profit in 2008, remaining 13 percent under its own budget and not losing any money on assets during the year. FIFA collected $957 million in revenue, mostly off additional television and marketing deals struck for the 2010 World Cup.

The sport's governing body had revenue of $957M on expenditures of $773M. The profit was summarized by FIFA president Sepp Bladder Blatter thusly: "We are in a sane, one could even say comfortable financial position."


So even as credit is hard to come by and consumer spending has been negatively impacted by the zeroing of pools of CDO's, people still pony up for football. Keep in mind that the GFM didn't really start until late in the year (circa October) and that the subsequent impact on revenues might not take full effect until this year.

Even as Blatter proclaims FIFA are in good shape, it's a bit of white lie. They are already projecting a $560.4 loss for next year as costs for the World Cup kick in. Additionally, most of the revenue (primarily from television) has already been booked.

And there are additional worries for FIFA with respect to the World Cup which could widen the budget gap next season, particularly the specter of commercial partners not meeting contractual sponsorship obligations. FIFA made no specific comments on those partners during their Bahamian getaway. In fact they were so thin on specifics about 2010 that Dutch delegate Harry Been objected to advanced material as it contained just one single page on next year's budget.

But as corporations look at their budgets and look for places to cut corners, lavish sports sponsorships are going to look pretty tempting. Bank of America has already come out and said they are considering not renewing sponsorship of US Olympic Committee.

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With Fate of Game Hanging in Balance Nothing Will Happen

Because when there's shit to get done, the shit goes down to the Bahamas.

Yep, the FIFA Congress is being held at the Imperial Ballroom of the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island.

Imperial. Atlantis. Paradise.

Truly this is the world's game.

Anyway, a bunch of billionaires, ex-players, federation presidents, Olympic representative, and other lovers of perks and patronage are holding a get together starting tomorrow (Wednesday) to discuss things that actually matter to the game. Even money is that almost nothing changes. "Hey guys, we could discuss ways to make the games better, or we could use our billions to impress chicks in bikinis."

A sample of people whose lives are better than yours:

There is no shortage of maneuvering at this gathering. Frank Lowy, chairman of Australia's soccer federation, brought his 240-foot yacht into Bahamian waters and is said to be lobbying for a World Cup. A stream of people at dinner Monday waited to greet London Olympics organizing committee head Sebastian Coe. He, too, is trying to lure a World Cup to his country, either the 2018 or 2022 tournament.

Anyway, items on the agenda include: changes to the Olympics, the 6+5 rule, drug testing rules, the 2018 and 2022 World Cups (although no lobbying is supposed to take place), and goal line technology. But first... the whores!

No matter what happens, if anything (or nothing) the Bahamians will be happy to have been talked down to for the duration of the activities.

Just one question: Why the fuck does FIFA need to bring "10 tons of material" from their Zurich headquarters?

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So What's the Confederations Cup All About?

The FIFA Confederations Map. Isn't it pretty?

The Confederations Cup kicks off on Sunday, June 14th with a 16:00 (umm, that's probably S. Africa time, not EST) match between South Africa and Iraq at Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg. But who are the countries involved, how did they get there, and what the heck is this thing all about?


The tournament was originally hosted and organized by Saudi Arabia, and was known as the King Fahd Cup. Not suprisingly, Saudi Arabia was a participant in every tournament, and extended invitations to winners of various continental tournaments. There were 2 iterations, in 1992 and 1995, after which FIFA took over the competition, formalized the rules regarding participants, and decreed that it would take place every 2 years. In 2005 FIFA realized that due to the schedule of a variety of other competitions (most notably the Olympics, the World Cup, and EURO tournaments), it would be most effective if the Confederations Cup was held every 4 years, which brings us to 2009.

Since 2005 the Confederations Cup has been held in the same country as the next World Cup, with the latter following by 1 year. This allows the WC host country to assess its readiness on a number of factors including infrastructure and safety. So, who are the national teams that get to dance at this dress rehearsal, and how did they get there? The rules of the Confederation Cup state that the 8 participants will be the winners of each of the 6 FIFA confederation championships, the reigning World Cup champion, and the host of the upcoming World Cup. There are also a host of rules for what to do when these overlap (e.g. the reigning WC champion is also hosting the next WC; the winner of 1 of the 6 confederation championships is also the reigning WC champion) - and in fact some teams have declined to participate in the Confederations Cup for a variety of reasons.

The 2009 Confederations Cup participants are:

(1) Italy - invited as the reigning World Cup champion

(2) South Africa - invited as the host of World Cup 2010

(3) Egypt - invited as the Confederation of African Football (CAF) winners, having won the African Cup of Nations

(4) Brazil - invited as the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) winners, having won the Copa America

(5) Spain - invited as the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) winners, having won EURO 2008 (officially referred to as the UEFA European Football Championship)

(6) Iraq - invited as the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) winners, having won the Asian Cup

(7) New Zealand - invited as the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) winners, having won the OFC Nations Cup

(8) United States - invited as the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) winners, having won the Gold Cup


With a total of $17.6 million in prize money at stake, matchups featuring USA-Italy (June 15th) and Italy-Brazil (June 21st), and the reputation of South Africa on the line, the 2009 Confederations Cup has a lot to offer.

And we'll be ready with the live-blogs.

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Sepp Blatter's Defensive Driving Class Has Awesome Benefits

UF loves Sepp Blatter.

Not because he's particularly good at his job of running FIFA, but because everything he says and everything he does is blog fodder. He's like Herpes: permanent, recurring, unsightly, embarassing, and, seeing how he's been in charge in Zurich since 1998, the only way to get rid of him might also be through death.

Usually there is a comedic air to his fuck-ups. Not today, kids. Not today.

Seems among other things Blatter sucks at is driving. From something called "Transparency In Reporting":

Last week Zurich journalist Jean Francois Tanda revealed in Sonntags Zeitung that multi-millionaire Sepp Blatter had persuaded a judge to impose the lightest possible fine after a car crash in which the FIFA president nearly killed another driver.

Tanda disclosed that Sepp Blatter escaped with a derisory 600 francs fine (£360, 400 Euros, US$500) after losing control of his 525 bhp Mercedes SL 63, hitting a car in front of him and then careening across a double white line into the other carriageway and striking an oncoming VW Golf so hard that it was flung in the air and landed upside down.

The driver of the flipped car had a good laugh when he was informed that the reason Blatter was driving so recklessly was because he was late for a round of golf. He quipped "I hope he drives better on the course."

Not really.

As we understand it, the fine should have reflected Blatter's total income, implying that he received special treatment, or he did not properly disclose his actual income to the court. Or both actually: special treatment for a) a lower fine and b) not having to report his actual income to the court.

The latter is kind of a deal because nobody knows what Blatter makes. It's a secret. As well as many of the other dealings of football's governing body (fun backstory: when a 2006 book was published with accounts of the corruption under Blatter, FIFA obtained an injunction to prevent the sale of the book in Switzerland).

Figure Bud Selig makes $18M for running MLB into the ground*, what's Blatter make for running the world's game?

As the article intimates, Blatter's fine reflected that of a person making around $65K or a little more than the occasional honorarium allegedly paid to executive committee members.

The rest of the gold here is in the comments and responses. As the article highlights some:

"Ronnie König asked, ‘How corrupt is our country anyway? and was answered by Veronique Duchand: ‘We now have a legal system that is comparable with those in China and some African dictatorships.’ Ludwig Baggenstos thought it was more like ‘South America.’"

Woo hoo. Our legal system escaped comparison with some of the worst countries in the world. USA! USA! USA!

Oh, Blatter did address the issue saying, "I have no comment."

Prick.

(*We're aware that attendance numbers have soared in the post-World-Series-killing strike era, but much like with Blatter at FIFA, MLB seems to thrive despite the actions of it's leadership, not because of it).

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More problems with FIFA tournaments in Africa

It's a full day here at UF. News is pouring in from all angles, I owe you another horrendous jersey, and there are EPL matches still to come. We are doing our best not to be caught slacking, and appreciate you keeping up.

The next Under 17 World Cup is due to be held this fall in Nigeria. A FIFA delegation, led by beloved (not really) CONCACAF head Jack Warner, recently spent a week in country assessing Nigeria's readiness to host the event. The result: not so good.

2009 is not the first time Nigeria has been chosen to host a Youth World Cup. Back in 1995, they were supposed to host the Under 20 version, but that got pulled because of concerns about medical facilities. Nigeria did host the same tournament four years later, without any apparent hiccups.

Still, FIFA has set a precedent of pulling tournaments if the host nation does not appear ready. Besides Nigeria, China also had a tournament pulled--the 2003 Women's World Cup--because of health concerns associated with the SARS virus. As the NYT Goal blog points out, this report does not bode well for Nigeria.

If the youth tournament is indeed moved, South African officials must get worried. FIFA set up its calendar so that three African nations would host international tournaments in succession, culminating with the 2010 World Cup. If one of these gets pulled because of poor planning and follow through, could South Africa be next? We have already highlighted some of the problems South Africa faces in the final 500 days of preparation to the World Cup. Surely they will redouble their efforts to get everything they can in tip-top shape before the dry run of the Confederations Cup. Which, by the way, kicks off in less than five months. You can place your bets however you like, but I'd take something as low as 10 to 1 that both of these tournaments will be moved.

(Image from FIFA)

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