Given it seems mandatory upon mentioning the FIFA World Rankings - they're really quite crap did you know? - that you say how rubbish they are, would someone who knows how the Fifa World Rankings - they're really quite crap did you know? - work, explain why it is that they're so messed up?
It's kinda frustrating how most times someone (generally someone who is new to the sport/more of a casual fan) brings up the FIFA World Rankings - they're really quite crap did you know? - , they're shot down, told the rankings are crap yada yada yada but there's never an explanation as to why.
Well, I've done that exactly, just prior to the WC group lottery, when I find out that we (NL) were not seeded in the top 8, and would consequently lose our position as group head.
-First clue is, as lame as it may be, what several have stated: there always seem to be utterly crap teams in the FIFA top 10. This time around, there were Greece, USA, Uruguay, Colombia, Chili, Belgium & Switzerland ahead of the WC runner-up.....
-I checked the FIFA ranking system, and found out the WC-qualifying matches were quite important. The system looked fair in itself........ Yet, as the Dutch team had drawn one qualifier and won the rest, not being seeded still puzzled the hell out of me....... No team did better during the qualifications than we did!
-A deeper look cleared things up: The FIFA-thing has a modifier for difference in position on the list. If you are far behind your opponent, you can actually gain many points. Though this could be fair, the other way around things go really bad. If you play teams that are low on the list, you hardly earn any points at all. The FIFA list is based on the the accumulated points in a certain period (24 months? not sure). The Dutch team only played low ranked teams during the qualification and thus had no chance.....
The point, however, is that the FIFA ranking system, though being systematically changed every other year or so, has been consistently crap forever. I remember Mexico and the USA being in the top10 (or even top 5?)....
I do not mean to be patronising, but the best way to show one knows exactly nothing about football, is bringing up a FIFA ranking position in a discussion.