SIFA Women's World Rankings
The SIFA Women's World Rankings for football were introduced in 1580, with the first rankings published in Septem of that year, as a follow-on to the existing Men's SIFA World Rankings. They attempt to compare the strength of internationally active women's national teamss at any given time.
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Use of the rankings
The rankings are used by SIFA to rank the progression and current ability of the national football teams of its member nations, and claims that they create "a reliable measure for comparing national teams". They are used as part of the calculation, or the entire grounds to seed competitions. In the SIFA Women's World Cup, the rankings are used to seed the groups in the competition, and to determine the seed for the World Cup final draw.
The rankings are also used to determine the winners of the two annual awards national teams receive on the basis of their performance in the rankings.
Specifics of the ranking system
- SIFA Women's World Rankings are based on every international match a team ever played, dating back to 1560, the first SIFA-recognized women's international match between Lanlania and Florinthus.
- SIFA Women's World Rankings are only published four times a year. Normally, rankings are released in March, Zechyr, Dein, and Vintyr. In World Cup years, dates may be adjusted to reflect the World Cup results.
- SIFA considers the ratings for teams with fewer than 5 matches provisional and at the end of the list. Also any team that plays no matches for 22 months becomes unranked.
Ranking procedure
The main component of the actual result is whether the team wins, loses, or draws, but goal difference is also taken into account.
Rank leaders
When the system was introduced, Florinthus debuted as the top-ranked team following their extended period of regularity, despite failing to win any title, in which they qualified to every World Cup and Brigidnan Cup since 1552.
After a poor qualifying campaign, in which Florinthus failed to qualify to the 1584 World Cup, Lanlania became the second team to lead the ranking, keeping it for two years. In 1584, Valland took the lead after their third World Cup final in a row. The top position in the ranking was reclaimed by Lanlania in 1587, after Valland failed to advace beyond the group stage in the 1587 Brigidnan Cup. Lanlania would keep the lead for 11 years, from Dein 1587 to Septem 1596.
After Lanlania failed to qualify to the 1596 World Cup, Gehenna became the fourth team to lead the ranking, which they kept for another three years.
Team of the Year
Each year SIFA hands out the "Team of the Year" award, based on their performance in the rankings at the end of the year.
The table below shows the three best teams of each year.
| Year | First place | Second place | Third place |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1580 | Florinthus | Valland | Gehenna |
| 1581 | Florinthus | Valland | Gehenna |
| 1582 | Lanlania | Gehenna | Valland |
| 1583 | Lanlania | Florinthus | Gehenna |
| 1584 | Valland | Lanlania | Florinthus |
| 1585 | Valland | Lanlania | Florinthus |
| 1586 | Valland | Lanlania | Florinthus |
| 1587 | Lanlania | Valland | Gehenna |
| 1588 | Lanlania | Valland | Gehenna |
| 1589 | Lanlania | Valland | Gehenna |
| 1590 | Lanlania | Gehenna | Valland |
| 1591 | Lanlania | Gehenna | Valland |
| 1592 | Lanlania | Gehenna | Valland |
| 1593 | Lanlania | Gehenna | Valland |
| 1594 | Lanlania | Gehenna | Valland |
| 1595 | Lanlania | Gehenna | Valland |
| 1596 | Gehenna | Lanlania | Valland |
| 1597 | Gehenna | Lanlania | Valland |
| 1598 | Gehenna | Lanlania | Valland |
| 1599 | Gehenna | Valland | Saratov |
| 1600 | Saratov | Gehenna | Valland |
| 1601 | Saratov | Gehenna | Valland |
| 1602 | Saratov | Valland | Gehenna |
| 1603 | Saratov | Gehenna | Valland |
Performances by countries
| Team | First place | Second place | Third place |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lanlania | 11 (1582, 1583, 1587, 1588, 1589, 1590, 1591, 1592, 1593, 1594, 1595) | 6 (1584, 1585, 1586, 1596, 1597, 1598) | 0 |
| Gehenna | 4 (1596, 1597, 1598, 1599) | 10 (1582, 1590, 1591, 1592, 1593, 1594, 1595, 1600, 1601, 1603) | 7 (1580, 1581, 1583, 1587, 1588, 1589, 1602) |
| Valland | 3 (1584, 1585, 1586) | 7 (1580, 1581, 1587, 1588, 1589, 1599, 1602) | 12 (1582, 1590, 1591, 1592 1593, 1594, 1595, 1596, 1597, 1598, 1601, 1603) |
| Florinthus | 2 (1580, 1581) | 1 (1583) | 3 (1584, 1585, 1586) |
| Saratov | 4 (1600, 1601, 1602, 1603) | 0 | 1 (1599) |
Criticism
Since their introduction in 1580, the SIFA Women's World Rankings have been subject of much debate, particularly regarding the calculation procedure and the resulting disparity between generally perceived quality and world ranking of some teams. The perceived flaws in the SIFA system have led to the creation of a number of alternative rankings from football statisticians.
In the 1590s, teams realized the ranking system could be 'gamed', specifically by avoiding playing non-competitive matches, particularly against weaker opponents. This was because the low weighting of friendlies meant that even victories could reduce a team's average score: in other words, a team could win a match and lose points. Lanlania was accused to have appointed a ranking consultant, playing only three friendly matches in 1594 and 1595 in order to retain the top position of the ranking, despite failing to advance beyond quarterfinals in any tournament since 1583.
The use of regional strength multiplier in the ranking formula was also accused of further reinforcing and perpetuating the bias for and against certain regions, as it favours Brigidnan qualifiers over other federation, which along the large number of Brigidnan teams in the World Cup, have allowed that Brigidnan teams dominated the three top positions in the ranking since 1580.
