Spain On Top | Wales Highest Climber

The last edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking for this year brings very few changes with it. 

World and European champions Spain remain unchallenged at the top of the table, followed by theNetherlands, Germany and Uruguay, who are all still competing in an exciting head-to-head battle for second place. As the top team at year-end, Spain are the Team of the Year for the fourth year in a row.

The title of Best Mover of the Year is claimed by Wales (48th, up 2) who, with 330 points, won the most points in 2011. The Welshmen find themselves back in the top 50 thanks to their outstanding performances in the second half of the year, with wins over Montenegro, Switzerland and Bulgaria in the EURO 2012 qualifiers. December saw the following teams achieve their highest position ever since the introduction of the world ranking: Bosnia-Herzegovina (20th, up 3), Panama (49th, up 2), Estonia(57th, up 1) and American Samoa (186th, up 18), who claimed their first-ever win in a World Cup qualifying match.

A comparison with the continental composition of the top 50 in December 2010 reveals various changes: South America (9 teams, up 3), CONCACAF (3, up 1) and Asia (4, up 1) have grown stronger, while Africa (7, down 3) and Europe (27, down 2) have fewer teams in the top 50 than they had a year ago. The top-ranked teams from each of the confederations are Spain (1st), Uruguay (4th), Côte d’Ivoire (16th), Japan (19th), Mexico (21st) and New Zealand (119th).

The results of 57 new 'A' international matches have been recognised in the current edition of theFIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking, of which 51 were friendly matches and the remaining six were OFC World Cup qualification matches. In total, 1,046 matches were taken into account over the course of the year.

The next FIFA/Coca-Cola Ranking will be published on 18 January 2012.

Best Mover of the Year 2011: Wales The Best Mover of the Year is the team that has gained the most points during 2011. This is the first time that Wales have claimed the title, having gained more points than any other team in 2011 and ending the year in 48th position. In particular, the wins over Montenegro, Switzerland and Bulgaria in the EURO 2012 qualifiers in the second half of the year enhanced their position substantially. 

	MP	W	D	L	GF	GA
Wales	10	5	0	5	13	13

Best Mover of the Year 2011 Wales
2010 Netherlands
2009 Algeria and Brazil
2008 Spain
2007 Mozambique
2006 Italy
2005 Ghana
2004 China PR
2003 Bahrain
2002 Senegal
2001 Costa Rica
2000 Nigeria
1999 Slovenia
1998 Croatia
1997 Yugoslavia
1996 South Africa
1995 Jamaica
1994 Croatia
1993 Colombia

Team of the Year 2011: Spain The title of Team of the Year goes to the team that finishes top of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking. For the fourth year in a row, Spain are the Team of the Year. This year, the reigning world and European champions won nine out of 12 matches, picking up one draw and two defeats. Having started the year at the top of the world ranking, in August Spain had to concede their spot to theNetherlands for one month. 

	MP	W	D	L	GF	GA
Spain	12	9	1	2	30	10

Team of the Year 2011 Spain
2010 Spain
2009 Spain
2008 Spain
2007 Argentina
2006 Brazil
2005 Brazil
2004 Brazil
2003 Brazil
2002 Brazil
2001* Honduras
2000* Netherlands
1999 Brazil
1998 Brazil
1997 Brazil
1996 Brazil
1995 Brazil
1994 Brazil
1993 Germany
*Average of the best seven matches

Best Mover of the Year 2011: Wales  

Rank	Team	2010-2011 difference	Points at end of 2010	Points at end of 2011	World ranking position
1	Wales	330	261	591	48
2	Sierra Leone	302	224	526	60
3	Bosnia-Herzegovina	287	582	869	20
4	Bermuda	261	49	310	107
5	Denmark	245	790	1035	11
6	Peru	226	486	712	35
7	Lebanon	213	92	305	112
8	El Salvador	212	251	463	69
9	Vietnam	184	167	351	99
10	Republic of Ireland	183	681	864	22

Best Mover of the Year 2011 (by confederation)

Confederation	Team	2010-2011 difference	World ranking position
AFC	Vietnam	184	99
CAF	Sierra Leone	302	60
CONCACAF	Bermuda	261	107
CONMEBOL	Uruguay	156	4
OFC	Samoa	123	149
UEFA	Wales	330	48

The title of “Best Mover” is awarded to the team that has gained the most points in 2011. 


Team of the Year 2011 (by confederation)

Confederation	Team	World ranking position	Points
AFC	Japan	19	884
CAF	Côte d’Ivoire	16	912
CONCACAF	Mexico	21	866
CONMEBOL	Uruguay	4	1309
OFC	New Zealand	119	271
UEFA	Spain	1	1564

The “Team of the Year” award goes to the highest-ranking team in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking.

Sumber : FIFA