As expected an easy win for North Korea. Nothing to see in China vs Bangladesh really, Bangladesh are ranked 112th in the world by FIFA. China are 17th (somehow).
China dropped one place to 17th in the rankings after losing 8-0 to England and 3-2 to Scotland during the November-December international window, with Iceland taking their place after two wins over Northern Ireland in their matches.
Proof FIFA rankings are weird as hell. Iceland clearly have a better team than China (as do we to be fair).
The women’s ones are weird. Or different. Not sure if they’re more accurate. I couldn’t be bothered googling or writing something, so here’s some AI slop answer on it:
Summary:
Actually, on the topic of China’s strength: Wang Shuang used to play for Spurs. Played a total of six games for us, lasting only one season. Was quite prolific at Racing Louisville the season before though. Now she’s back in China playing for Wuhan Jiangda, last season’s Champions League winners.
Yeah that probably explains why the women's rankings are pretty weird (though so are the men's to be fair). Austria, China and North Korea are ranked above Colombia lol.The women’s ones are weird. Or different. Not sure if they’re more accurate. I couldn’t be bothered googling or writing something, so here’s some AI slop answer on it:
Yes. The women’s FIFA rankings are calculated differently from the men’s.
Men’s FIFA Rankings
The men use the “SUM” Elo-style system (introduced in 2018).
Key features:
- Points increase or decrease after every match.
- The change depends on:
- Match result (win/draw/loss)
- Match importance (friendly vs World Cup match)
- Strength of opponent
- Confederation strength is not included anymore.
- Formula structure:
P = Pbefore + I × (W − We)
where I is match importance, W actual result, We expected result.
This system behaves like Elo ratings used in chess.
Women’s FIFA Rankings
The women have used an Elo-style system since 2003, but it works differently from the men’s current system.
Key differences:
Practical Effects
- Rankings are updated less frequently (periodic releases rather than constant recalculation).
- They include goal difference adjustments.
- They include home advantage adjustments.
- Match importance values differ from the men’s scale.
- The rating formula is closer to classic Elo with additional modifiers.
Because of these differences:
- Large wins in women’s football affect rankings more (due to goal difference).
- Home vs away matters more in the women’s rankings.
- The men’s rankings are more stable match-to-match.
- Men: Modern SUM Elo system (no goal difference, no home advantage).
- Women: Modified Elo system (includes goal difference and home advantage).
There's a useful online tool for calculating women's FIFA ranking changes which I've been using and the Matildas would be dropping ranking points despite winning 1-0 because of home advantage as opposed to if the match was played in the Philippines.The women’s ones are weird. Or different. Not sure if they’re more accurate. I couldn’t be bothered googling or writing something, so here’s some AI slop answer on it:
Yes. The women’s FIFA rankings are calculated differently from the men’s.
Men’s FIFA Rankings
The men use the “SUM” Elo-style system (introduced in 2018).
Key features:
- Points increase or decrease after every match.
- The change depends on:
- Match result (win/draw/loss)
- Match importance (friendly vs World Cup match)
- Strength of opponent
- Confederation strength is not included anymore.
- Formula structure:
P = Pbefore + I × (W − We)
where I is match importance, W actual result, We expected result.
This system behaves like Elo ratings used in chess.
Women’s FIFA Rankings
The women have used an Elo-style system since 2003, but it works differently from the men’s current system.
Key differences:
Practical Effects
- Rankings are updated less frequently (periodic releases rather than constant recalculation).
- They include goal difference adjustments.
- They include home advantage adjustments.
- Match importance values differ from the men’s scale.
- The rating formula is closer to classic Elo with additional modifiers.
Because of these differences:
- Large wins in women’s football affect rankings more (due to goal difference).
- Home vs away matters more in the women’s rankings.
- The men’s rankings are more stable match-to-match.
- Men: Modern SUM Elo system (no goal difference, no home advantage).
- Women: Modified Elo system (includes goal difference and home advantage).
Thanks for sharing! So if the Matildas beat Japan 1–0, we could potentially surpass Denmark in the rankings not accounting for any other results. We’re still a fair bit behind Italy though, even if we also beat China 1–0.
The Matildas would only gain more ranking points with a 1-0 win over Japan compared to a win by the same scoreline over China since Japan are seven places above us whilst China are two places lower but directly below us when taking just AFC nations into account, but in theory if we were to defeat North Korea 1-0 we would be in touching distance of Denmark and could possibly surpass them depending on how their matches pan out.
Definitely expected a bigger win from Japan. Vietnam won 2–1.
Matildas playing Iran in the late kickoff for group A today, with South Korea facing the Philippines in the early game to get matchday 2 underway. Mackenzie Arnold and Kyra Cooney-Cross are both right for today's match, with Montemurro also suggesting that there will be rotation in the playing list.
Another cap for Charlize Rule maybe? Kahli Johnson up front?
I'd say Charlize Rule will be part of the backline for the game against Iran seeing as we only have a two-day turnaround before our last group stage match against South Korea and will be resting key players, and possibly Kahli Johnson, Holly McNamara or both start up front but definitely the Matildas cannot be going for a sole striker again after failing to capitalise on chances on opening day.
It also has zero relevance to football. They should speak about it unprompted like Ukrainian players and allies are speaking about the war and genocide over there.
