The latest FIFA rankings

Much commotion was made on Wednesday morning when FIFA announced their latest rankings. Unsurprisingly, Spain topped the list, England resumed their place in the top 10, while Scotland fell and Belgium rose.

Yet, the main critique was that of Brazil; The Samba Boys; The Seleção and their place closer to 15^th than 10^th. Yes. Mano Menezes’ side hard dropped once again, this time to 13^th. Shock horror for much of the public as fans fainted in disbelief that the five-time World Cup champions hadn’t earned their place at the summit of the beautiful game.

What blasphemy has brought on, some cried. Twitter went into overdrive, disapproving of their position, without taking a second to actually think why Brazil has slumped down the table. Once the rules are properly analysed, it is only right that the Seleção find themselves outside of the top 10.

The Olympic Games was to be the last competitive action for the national side until the Confederations Cup next year and the World Cup in 2014, both of which they qualified for automatically as hosts.

By playing friendlies in their place, Brazil are unlikely to collect as many points as the likes of Spain, England and Holland, for example, due to the World Cup qualifiers that have to play. Furthermore, by playing teams such as Iraq and China, teams lower down in the rankings table, they muster fewer points than playing the likes of the aforementioned trio.

Furthermore, once Brazil have played teams higher in the list, they have a recent tendency to struggle, further hampering their chance to move up the table. If you take a minute to think about it, it’s logical that the South American giants have slipped down the rankings and will continue to do so until they play competitive football once again next year. 

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