On 23 November 2001, UEFA published its European national team
ranking table based on coefficients or points per match averages calculated from the qualifying results in the
European Championship 2000 and World Cup 2000, excluding the playoffs. Since Belgium and Holland, as the host nations,
did not participate in qualifying for the European Championship 2000, their
coefficient was calculated solely on the basis of qualifying results for World
Cup 2002. And since France, as reigning champion, did not take part in
qualifying for World Cup 2002, their points average was determined on the basis
of their qualifying results for European Championship 2000 alone.
England
were ranked 18th in Europe. In FIFA's
world ranking released two days earlier, England were placed 10th, behind only
five European teams (France, Portugal, Italy, Spain and Holland) rather than behind
17 as in the UEFA ranking. This
discrepancy resulted from the differences in the bases the two
organizations use for their rankings, one of which is that the FIFA ranking
takes account of all results, not just qualification results in the major
competitions.
The reasoning behind UEFA's use of
qualification results alone apparently is that they serve as the best basis for
a comparative ranking since all nations but the host country and, in the case of
the World Cup, the reigning champion participate in qualification group play for the major
competitions and because the qualification groups are roughly equivalent in the
difficulty of the competition they provide. For an explanation of the UEFA ranking system, see England's
UEFA European Ranking 1997.
England's 18th place rank represents a one rung drop since
the UEFA ranking of late 1999. It is a fair representation of England's
overall performance in qualifying for World Cup 2002, for while England finished
atop their group, they began very poorly, and it could not be said they
dominated the group. They lost to Germany and drew with Finland and
Greece.
UEFA will use the ranking,
with some modifications, to seed the 50 teams participating in the 2004
European Championship preliminary draw, to be held in Oporto, Portugal on 25
January 2002. That draw will determine the composition of the 10 groups in
the European Championship 2004 qualifying competition.
Portugal, which has qualified
directly for the final tournament as the host nation, will be excluded from the
ranking list for purpose of the seeding. Although France had only the 11th
best coefficient in the ranking, they will be seeded top as the reigning European
champions. Apart from these modifications, UEFA's seeding for the European
Championship 2004 preliminary draw will track the ranking table.
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PY
England
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