29 December 2009 ATT : SPORTS
FROM PFF MEDIA MANAGER
Pakistan move up 21 places in FIFA World Rankings
Lahore, 29 December : Pakistan has leapt up 21 places within eight month and stood at 156th spot in the latest FIFA World Ranking. Because only around 30 matches were taken into account for the final FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking of the year, there was no change at the top, with Spain continuing to lead the way ahead of Brazil and the Netherlands. The Iberians once again take the crown of Team of the Year, as their surprise defeat to the USA at the FIFA Confederations Cup was the only blemish on an otherwise perfect record in the 16 matches they played.
The heroics of George Kottan's men mean they overtake several top nations of the world and also closed the gap against their arch-rivals India. Pakistan was far behind as compare to India when Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat earned chair of Pakistan Football Federation (PFF)'s President in late August 2003. Indians were 133rd as compared to Pakistan's 160, a difference of 27 places, on that occasion six years ago, but after dynamic works of PFF Chief, the disparity between two South Asian nations has resulted as India stands at 134.
The beginning of the year 2009 saw Pakistan at 165th and they went further down to 177th on 8 April but returned back to respectable berth, lifting themselves to 156th on 16 December 2006 – a fine recovery within eight months. The 0-0 draw against Bangladesh and 7-0 win over Bhutan in 8th SAFF Championship 2009 at Dhaka gave Pakistan the lift.
By doing so the South Asian nation drew level with joint St. Kitts and Nevis and closed upon European country Liechtenstein with the gap reduced to two places. Pakistan will begin 2010 with FIFA ranking above Malaysia, which is also headquarter of AFC, Madagascar, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Chinese Taipei, Niger, Tajikistan, Palestine, Cambodia and Mauritius etc.
The rankings system was revised after the World Cup 2006 and results from the last four years rather than eight are now being taken into account. "the first newly-styled FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking was published on 12 July 2006. FIFA have acknowledged the need for a substantial revision and their experts have come up with a satisfactory solution for a new way of calculating the ranking. They are aware that it is difficult to meet everybody's expectations, but are confident that the new system will provide an accurate measure of the strength of every member associations," stated Faisal who congratulated officials and players for their display at Dhaka and memorable 7-0 win over Bhutan – the second biggest in the history of regional soccer.
Since its introduction in August 1993, the FIFA World Ranking has become a regular part of international sports reports and an important indicator for FIFA's 208 member associations to find out where their respective teams stand in world football's pecking order and how they are progressing."the increasingly high profile of the world ranking also attracted some criticism indicating that its calculation formula was too complicated. Therefore, the FIFA Technical and Development Committee and the FIFA Football Committee decided to revise the ranking in order to simplify the way in which it is calculated, " added by Faisal, under whom Pakistan's Ranking jumped from 177th in March 2005 to 153 in June 2006, and once again regained respectability as year 2009 came to conclusion.
The FIFA Ranking currently assesses 207 nations. Five teams - San Marino, Anguilla, Montserrat, American Samoa and Papua New Guinea - were tied for last at 203. Sao Tome and Principe are no longer classified due to a lack of footballing activity. The very first edition of the Ranking for 2010 will be released on 3 February 2010.