Fifa Ranking- February 2016

[Sarbaze-Vatan]

Fifa ranking will be used to determine the seeding for final round of AFC WCQ 2018. They will use the last Fifa ranking before the draw for final round which is the April one most likely. The draw for final round is in
April 14, 2016.

Here is the February Fifa ranking:

49.Iran 626 points
60. Korea republic 580 pts.
61.Saudi arabia 571 pts.
62.Japan 569 pts.
67.UAE 520 pts.
69.Australia 510 pts.
70. Uzbekistan 502 pts.
80.Qatar 444 pts.
92.Iraq 372 pts.
98. Korea Dpr 350 pts.
120.Thailand 286 pts.
125. Syria 278 pts.

For February Fifa ranking, Saudi Arabia will have 571 points and Australia will have 510. This means that Saudi Arabia will be third Asian team in next Fifa ranking (February). No match in the March, so I do not expect much changes for March Fifa ranking. The April ranking will be used for final seeding most likely, So we do not know the final seeding yet, and the results of March matches can have significant effects on April Ranking. (Uae vs. Saudi Arabia match in March is probably the most important match for final seeding.) If we do not see Australia in top 4 of April Ranking, most teams probably prefer to avoid Australia.

If there is going to be any discussion about Fifa ranking before the final draw, it can be in this thread.

[Sarbaze-Vatan]

Here is the February ranking and the April one will be used for final seeding most likely:

49.Iran 626 points
60. Korea republic 580 pts.
61.Saudi arabia 571 pts.
62.Japan 569 pts.
67.UAE 520 pts.
69.Australia 510 pts.
70. Uzbekistan 502 pts.
80.Qatar 444 pts.
92.Iraq 372 pts.
98. Korea Dpr 350 pts.
120.Thailand 286 pts.
125. Syria 278 pts.

[koush22]

Here is the February ranking and the April one will be used for final seeding most likely:

49.Iran 626 points
60. Korea republic 580 pts.
61.Saudi arabia 571 pts.
62.Japan 569 pts.
67.UAE 520 pts.
69.Australia 510 pts.
70. Uzbekistan 502 pts.
80.Qatar 444 pts.
92.Iraq 372 pts.
98. Korea Dpr 350 pts.
120.Thailand 286 pts.
125. Syria 278 pts.

Wow those rankings took a big hit. What happened?

[Damavand]

Fifa ranking will be used to determine the seeding for final round of AFC WCQ 2018. Here is the ranking of Asian teams in January Fifa Ranking:
43 Iran 672 pts
51 Korea Republic 617
53 Japan 607
59 Australia 583
64 United Arab Emirates 547
73 Uzbekistan 489
75 Saudi Arabia 474
82 China PR 413
84 Qatar 404
86 Jordan 398
87 Iraq 395
99 Oman 344
107 Kyrgyzstan 324
113 Korea DPR 301
117 Turkmenistan 294
121 Bahrain 285
121 Thailand 285
125 Syria 278
131 Palestine 267
135 Philippines 264
136 Hong Kong 259
140 Lebanon 245
141 Kuwait 242
For February Fifa ranking, Saudi Arabia will have 571 points and Australia will have 510. This means that Saudi Arabia will be third Asian team in next Fifa ranking (February). No match in the March, so I do not expect much changes for March Fifa ranking. The draw for final round is in April 14, 2016. If they use the last Fifa ranking before draw, it will be April one. So we do not know the final seeding yet, and the results of March matches can have significant effects on April Ranking. If we do not see Australia in top 4 of April Ranking, most teams probably prefer to avoid Australia.
If there is going to be any discussion about Fifa ranking before the final draw, it can be in this thread.

What the hell has KSA done in the last month to jump up 4 places among the Asian teams ?? I smell a RAT. KSA must have paid FIFA to assure an easier group for themselves in the next round.

And poor Australia, they are among the top 4 teams in Asia and the current Asian Cup title holders, forced to drop to number 6 in Asia.

[Sarbaze-Vatan]

Wow those rankings took a big hit. What happened?

????????????????????????

If this ranking does not change by April, we may see ridiculous groups. The Uae vs. Saudi Arabia match in March will probably be the most important match for final seeding.

[irani8perspolis]

We may get our easiest group of all time, if we get this group I honestly expect 30 out of 30 points:

Iran
KSA
UAE
Qatar
North Korea
Syria

But this will be the other group:
South Korea
Japan
Australia
Uzbekistan
Iraq
Thailand

If we get lucky and get that group I think Qatar would qualify as second place.

[Nokhodi]

We may get our easiest group of all time, if we get this group I honestly expect 30 out of 30 points:
Iran
KSA
UAE
Qatar
North Korea
Syria
But this will be the other group:
South Korea
Japan
Australia
Uzbekistan
Iraq
Thailand
If we get lucky and get that group I think Qatar would qualify as second place.

It will be easy on paper, but such a group would be an absolute dread to watch every game. The politics alone would make every game zahre mar.


And how the heck did Saudi overtake so many teams like that?

[PersianLegion]

What the hell has KSA done in the last month to jump up 4 places among the Asian team ?? I smell a RAT. KSA must have paid FIFA to assure an easier group for themselves in the next round.

And poor Australia, they are among the top 4 teams in Asia and the current Asian Cup title holders, forced to drop to number 6 in Asia.

If it goes like that we might get ready for a group with Iran-Japan-Australia-...-...-... and another like South Korea-Saudi Arabia-UAE-...-...-...

That will be awful. Whichever top 3 out of 4 traditional power houses that get in one group will suffer an elimination most likely while Saudis get an easier group. It will be poetic justice if the following happens

First group: Iran-Japan-UAE-Qatar-...-...
Second group: South Korea-Saudi Arabia-Australia-Uzbekistan-...-...

[PersianLegion]

We may get our easiest group of all time, if we get this group I honestly expect 30 out of 30 points:
Iran
KSA
UAE
Qatar
North Korea
Syria
But this will be the other group:
South Korea
Japan
Australia
Uzbekistan
Iraq
Thailand
If we get lucky and get that group I think Qatar would qualify as second place.

That won't happen. Saudis are active since last month to take Iran hosting any competition against them. UAE and Bahrian also followed the Saudis. So in fact if AFC accept their lame excuses then we lose our home advantages against Saudis and Emiratis. There is a possibility Qatar follow its fellow Arab teams as well. Then we lose three home advantages. Playing against many Arabs is risky in this round because they can help each other some how to eliminate Iran. (Remember Qatar lost 5-1 to Uzbekistan in 2013 to make sure Iran won't advance to Fifa 2014 world cup, while at first half Qatar was 1-0 ahead of Uzbekistan).

[Ando Teymourian]

We may get our easiest group of all time, if we get this group I honestly expect 30 out of 30 points:

Iran
KSA
UAE
Qatar
North Korea
Syria

But this will be the other group:
South Korea
Japan
Australia
Uzbekistan
Iraq
Thailand

If we get lucky and get that group I think Qatar would qualify as second place.

I would rather have the second group to be honest, at least there would be no cheating in that group. You can bet your house that Qatar will try to do everything in their power (whether legal or illegal), to qualify for at least 1 world cup before their auto spot in 2022. Throw KSA BS in the mix, as well as the general likelihood that the 4 Arab teams would try to help each other out. That makes group 2 look way better to me. If we lose, we would lose in a footballing fashion.

[Ab-Gosht]

we can say goodbye if we have this group

iran
japan
aussie
qatar
iraq

[Sarbaze-Vatan]

we can say goodbye if we have this group

iran
japan
aussie
qatar
iraq

There will be six teams per group. I have feeling that Having Korea or Australia in our group will be better than Japan. I also hope to not see many GCC Arab countries in our group. Regardless of our group, we must be good enough to finish top two in order to qualify without much difficulty.

[Karimi 8]

We are always first in Asia CQ

[Sarbaze-Vatan]

We are always first in Asia CQ

Unfortunately, the history is against us for WCQ 2018. The history says that Iran NT qualifies for every other WC. Remember WCQs 2002 where we had even a world class coach Miroslav Blazevic but everything turned against us such as draw for the final round, luck, etc. Note that I am not saying the history matters for final round, when the matches start.

Also I am hearing that Vezarat varzesh is not willing to help the federation to fix the pitch of main Iran NT soccer field and the federation does not have any budget to fix it. We must not have those problems. Every one must help the team and CQ to succeed the qualification to the WC 2018.

[Sarbaze-Vatan]

I would rather have the second group to be honest, at least there would be no cheating in that group. You can bet your house that Qatar will try to do everything in their power (whether legal or illegal), to qualify for at least 1 world cup before their auto spot in 2022. Throw KSA BS in the mix, as well as the general likelihood that the 4 Arab teams would try to help each other out. That makes group 2 look way better to me. If we lose, we would lose in a footballing fashion.

No one wants to see GCC Arab countries in our group for sure. However I hope we do not get at least more than one team from Australia, Japan, and South Korea in our group, because it makes our path to the WC smoother. I think qualifying to the WC 2018 will be very hard for us regardless of group and we must be fully ready.