From our other sites
The story
FIFA (the International Federation of Association Football) released its latest rankings dated September 25, 2026, sparking discussion over the standings of World Cup-qualified North and Central American nations and Japan’s national team. On a thread on 5ch’s Geinou/Sports Breaking News+ board, posters repeatedly argued that Japan and Iran are ranked higher than their actual ability, that Italy — despite failing to qualify for the World Cup — remains near the top, and that Mexico and the US may be getting a boost simply from playing more matches within their own confederation. The discussion spiraled into broader doubts about how the FIFA ranking formula itself works.
Football Channel, 9/25
Here are positions 1 through 100 of the latest FIFA rankings (dated September 25, 2026), released by FIFA. This covers the current rankings of national teams — including the Japan national team — calculated from results at the FIFA World Cup, continental qualifiers, and continental championships.
Soccer FIFA Rankings, 1st–10th (as of September 25, 2026)
Source: footballchannel.jp / Original article here
What people said
Also, Australia should be below 50th.
Australia made it to the Round of 32, though.
They're probably about as strong as Japan.
Same goes for Belgium — and 'Mehico' (a casual Spanish-style nickname for Mexico) feels off too.
Same goes for the US and Switzerland.
As always, anything below 10th is a completely random ranking lmao
More than that, Italy's ranking is the real head-scratcher lol
It's like they're still living off their old reputation.
Iran lost to Uzbekistan, you know.
There's another 'sport' out there that ranks countries despite barely holding any international matches too —
WBSC Men's Baseball World Rankings, Top 10 (updated March 26, 2026):
1st: Japan (6,337 points)
2nd: Chinese Taipei (5,302 points)
3rd: United States (4,357 points)
4th: South Korea (4,239 points)
5th: Venezuela (3,992 points)
6th: Puerto Rico (3,298 points)
7th: Mexico (3,227 points)
8th: Panama (2,744 points)
9th: Australia (2,425 points)
10th: Netherlands (2,358 points)
Re: #28
They hold a continental championship every 2 years, plus they've got the Nations League on top of that.
It's basically a two-horse race between Mexico and the US with everyone else being minnows, so their rankings end up pretty inflated.
The Gold Cup — basically 'doping' for their ranking, continental-championship style.
Funny how a 'continental championship' happens every 2 years and always seems to be hosted in the US.
Apparently this is the first time in decades they've won a knockout-round match.
Japan played the US before the World Cup and got thrashed.
So this ranking checks out.
Japan's supposed ace is riding the bench on some second-rate club team.
Italy conceded 6 goals in a single European qualifier against Norway, and they're still ranked above both countries.
So basically they can't move up because they don't get matches against Europe.
Maybe if they won 4 games at the actual tournament, they'd crack the top 10?
Guess you don't even know how the FIFA ranking is calculated lol
It's a 4-year cumulative total, so even one great year won't bump you up that much.
The ones that feel too high are Mexico, Italy, and Iran.
Russia's ranking, though, is just a mystery.
Isn't the Latin American powerhouse 'Chihuahua-land' (a joking nickname for Mexico) about right? If anything, the Alpine powerhouse 'Heidi-land' (a joking nickname for Switzerland) seems way too high…
The fact that the federation president and the Brazil camp were sitting in the VIP seats means something.
They weren't there to watch soccer.
They were there to check whether the 'system' was working properly.
In other words: Brazil wins, Japan loses right here — that was already decided, and they were putting the pressure on Japan.
And sure enough, Japan self-destructed.
That's why they still had that look on their faces even after the final whistle.
Japan's soccer people are still way too naive.
The FIFA ranking, on the other hand, factors in things like friendly-match weighting and inter-confederation coefficients, so it's easier to 'hack' your points depending on how you schedule matches and pick opponents.
Thinking one single match can move the needle when it's a 4-year cumulative point total is next-level clueless lol
In other words: even if the national team is weak, there's still hidden strength (charm) underneath.
Japan's 'carbonara' only shares the name — it's a completely different dish.
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
The FIFA ranking accumulates points from match results over the past four years, weighted by the level of each match (friendly vs. official, continental vs. intercontinental, etc.) — it isn’t a system where one match result can drastically swing the standings. As posters in the thread noted, countries like the US and Mexico simply get more chances to play thanks to competitions like the CONCACAF Gold Cup and Nations League, and with fewer strong rivals within their own confederation, they’re structurally positioned to rack up points more easily. This differs from a system like Elo ratings, which is based on the gap between expected and actual results, so it’s not unusual for the two systems to disagree on where a team should rank. It’s also easy to misread that a country can stay ranked highly even without qualifying for the World Cup, simply because it still has points banked from past results — meaning the ranking doesn’t necessarily reflect a national team’s actual current strength.
*This article excerpts and summarizes the 5ch (Geinou/Sports Breaking News+) thread “Latest Soccer FIFA Rankings, 1st–100th: Where Do World Cup-Qualified North/Central American Nations and the Japan National Team Rank? (as of September 25, 2026)“.
Leave a Reply