The FIFA World Ranking Explained: How Points Are Calculated

One list, more than 200 teams

The FIFA/Coca-Cola Men's World Ranking places every FIFA member association in one table. It is updated after each international window and is used for seeding in World Cup qualifying and draws, so a few points can decide which group a country lands in.

The SUM formula

Since 2018 FIFA uses the SUM method, an Elo-style system. After every match a team's new points are its old points plus I × (W − We).

W is the result: 1 for a win, 0.5 for a draw and 0 for a loss (penalty shootouts give 0.75 to the winner and 0.5 to the loser). We is the expected result, calculated from the points gap between the two teams. Beating a much stronger team earns a lot; beating a much weaker one earns very little.

Why match importance matters

I is the importance of the match. Friendlies outside the international window count least, then friendlies inside the window, Nations League matches, qualifiers, continental finals and finally the World Cup itself, where knockout matches count most.

In the knockout rounds of a final tournament, a team's points cannot go down, which rewards nations for reaching the late rounds.

The women's ranking

The FIFA Women's World Ranking uses its own Elo-style formula, which also looks at goal difference and goals scored, gives the home team an advantage and weighs World Cup and Olympic matches most. Both lists are shown on AllSportsRanking with their official points, and both count as separate lists in the overall country ranking.