Since 2018 the FIFA/Coca-Cola Men's World Ranking has used a points-exchange system known as "SUM", based on the Elo principle. Teams gain points by doing better than expected and lose them by doing worse.
The formula
After every match each team's points change by:
P = Pbefore + I × (W − We)
- W is the result: 1 for a win, 0.5 for a draw, 0 for a defeat. A win on penalties counts 0.75 and a loss on penalties 0.5.
- We is the expected result, calculated from the difference in points between the teams: 1 / (10−dr/600 + 1).
- I is the importance of the match.
Match importance
- Friendlies outside international windows: 5
- Friendlies inside international windows: 10
- Nations League group matches: 15
- Nations League finals and play-offs, World Cup and continental qualifiers: 25
- Continental finals (such as AFCON) before the quarter-finals: 35; from the quarter-finals: 40
- World Cup before the quarter-finals: 50; from the quarter-finals: 60
Protection in knock-out games
Teams do not lose points for a defeat in the knock-out stage of a final tournament, so they are not punished for reaching difficult matches.
How it differs from Elo ratings
Our own Elo ratings use the same idea but differ in details: they reward bigger winning margins, add a home advantage and are calculated from every international since 1872. That is why the two rankings usually agree on the order of the top African teams but can differ in the middle of the table. Read how our Elo ratings work.
Why the ranking matters
The FIFA ranking is used to seed draws for the World Cup and its qualifiers and, in Africa, to decide which teams play in preliminary rounds of AFCON and World Cup qualifying. A few places can make the difference between an easy and a very hard group.