Wales Slip Again in FIFA Rankings

Wales have slipped 5 places in the World Rankings to 79th as John Toshack opted for a training camp in Spain rather than play friendlies at the back end of May.

Wales' next friendly will be in August as preparation for World Cup qualifiers in September and October.

The 74 World Cup qualifiers and 36 friendlies played around the world over the last four weeks have made their mark on the latest FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking. Nevertheless, Brazil comfortably retain top spot despite dropping points after a defeat in Argentina.

Having bagged more points than any other country this month, the Netherlands (4th, up 1) could soon be the World Cup holders' nearest pursuers. Two wins over much lower-ranked opponents mean that Czech Republic do not make up any ground and Argentina also fail to rein in the leaders after going down to Ecuador before getting back on track with the victory over Brazil.

Outside the top ten, Denmark (16th, up 3), Colombia (25th, up 3), Russia (27th, up 3), Ukraine (35th, up 4), Switzerland (42nd, up 3), Slovakia (43rd, up 5) and Israel (47th, up 3) all make useful gains. Further down the ladder, the progress of Togo (67th, up 12), Congo DR (68th, up 9), Guinea (83rd, up 9) and Iceland (90th, up 7) also catches the eye.

Weighing up points gained this month alongside current points totals sees the Netherlands crowned Mover of the Month ahead of Togo and Congo DR. Meanwhile, Ukraine lead the way in the race for the Best Mover of the Year title.

The ranking system
The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking evaluates all matches played by senior national teams, i.e.
o World Cup final matches
o World Cup preliminary matches
o continental championship final matches
o continental championship preliminary matches
o friendly matches.
The calculation of a team's points from a certain match is based on the following six criteria:
o winning, drawing and losing
o number of goals
o home or away match
o importance of the match (multiplication factor)
o strength of the opponent
o regional strength (multiplication factor)

Rank	Team	+/-Rank May 05	Pts: Jun 05	+/-Pts: May 05
1	Brazil	0	829	-2
2	Czech Republic	0	790	6
3	Argentina	0	785	7
4	Netherlands	1	783	24
5	France	-1	765	-4
6	Mexico	1	759	6
7	England	-1	757	3
8	Portugal	1	755	15
9	Spain	-1	747	-5
10	USA	0	744	10
11	Italy	-1	725	-9
12	Sweden	1	722	0
13	Greece	-1	720	-7
14	Turkey	0	719	7
15	Republic of Ireland	0	714	5
16	Denmark	3	713	16
17	Iran	1	711	12
18	Japan	-1	710	7
18	Uruguay	-2	710	4
20	Korea Republic	1	696	10