The Croatian national football team will finish the 2016 year as the 14th best ranked team in the world, according to the new FIFA rankings that were published on Thursday. Argentina is the top ranked team in the world.
With only a small number of international games played this year, there aren’t many changes from the previous ranking announcement last month, and especially no significant changes among the top 20 teams, reports Index.hr on 22 December 2016.
The Argentines, the top ranked team in the world, have won 10 out of the 15 games they played this year, lost only two, and played three with a draw.
When we look at Croatia’s rivals in the qualifying group for World Cup 2018, most all of the teams, with the exception of Ukraine and Finland, are in the same positions as last month. Iceland is the next best ranked team to Croatia in 21st place, Turkey remains in 24th, and Ukraine has dropped one place down to be the 30th best team in the world. Finland also dropped down one place for the 94th rank in the world, and Kosovo remained in 165th place.
The year 2016 proved to be an overall good year for the Croatian national team. While Euro 2016 in France brought many ups and downs, including some fan incidents that put Croatian hooliganism on the international map, there were many happy (for instance, Croatia beating Spain 2-1 in a group stage match for Euro) and bittersweet (such as Croatian captain Darijo Srna retiring from the national team) moments to take from this whirlwind of a year. And hey, the wrapped head of Ćorluka gave the team even more celebrity status!
Image by HNS
The next FIFA rankings will be announced on January 12, 2017.
FIFA Ranking as of December 22, 2016
1. Argentina – 1634
2. Brazil – 1544
3. Germany – 1433
4. Chile – 1404
5. Belgium – 1368
6. Colombia – 1345
7. France – 1305
8. Portugal – 1229
9. Uruguay – 1187
10. Spain – 1166
…
14. Croatia – 1103
