Switzerland-FIFA corruption?

[WhingForPresident]

Just a thought.

FIFA are based in Switzerland.
Switzerland aren't a very good side.
Switzerland draw Iceland, Slovenia, Norway, Albania and Cyprus in their WCQ group- outrageously easy.
Switzerland mysteriously move up seven places to seventh in the FIFA rankings to gain seeding for the World Cup.

Coincidence?

 

[Wozza]

Just a thought.

FIFA are based in Switzerland.
Switzerland aren't a very good side.
Switzerland draw Iceland, Slovenia, Norway, Albania and Cyprus in their WCQ group- outrageously easy.
Switzerland mysteriously move up seven places to seventh in the FIFA rankings to gain seeding for the World Cup.

Coincidence?

Nothing 'mysterious' about it - they're unbeaten in 14 or so matches.

Fingers crossed that England draw 'em.

 

[Shropshire Seagull]

Well, lets hope England, who are unseeded for Brazil '14, go into the same group that have Switzerland as the seed.

As for corruption, I think FIFA is the worst kept secret, they are an embarrassment to themselves and I think the whole world knows ....

 

[El Turi]

A certain corrupt leader of Fifa also happens to be Swiss.....

 

[WhingForPresident]

Nothing 'mysterious' about it - they're unbeaten in 14 or so matches.

Fingers crossed that England draw 'em.

They drew against world ranked 134 Cyprus and world ranked 46 Iceland twice in qualifying. I know their record looks good on paper but I'm pretty sure even Wales or Scotland would have had a good chance of qualifying from that group.

 

[WhingForPresident]

A certain corrupt leader of Fifa also happens to be Swiss.....

Bit silly of me not to point this out in the OP really.

 

[Gwylan]

Just a thought.

Switzerland aren't a very good side.

That will be the Switzerland who were the only team to beat Spain in the last WC and, as Wozza pointed out, are unbeaten for 14 games.

The FIFA rankings are always a bit weird but if you go unbeaten in a lot of games, you're going to move up the rankings.

Having said that, I bet they're the seeded team everyone's looking to get (although Colombia have never set the world on fire either)

 

[Buzzer]

The Swiss were a bit presumptuous to be putting corkscrews on their Army knives, weren't they? And have you seen the Swiss Guard that protect the Pope? They wouldn't look out of place in the Wild Fruit tent at Pride. Something not right there. I'm with the OP

 

[drew]

The rankings aren't ideal but they are a system based on a formula. The alternative seeding would be based purely on peoples opinions. Having said that, I thought they took into account not only the ranking but performance at the last one (or maybe two) world cups!

 

[willyfantastic]

look at Colombia's squad now:

Falcao
Jackson Martinez
Guarin

They have a tasty squad

Switzerland's on the other hand.....

Edit: remembered the Swiss have Shaqiri, Xhaka, Barnetta, Inler and Behrami - pretty good squad too

 

[ali jenkins]

This is the same rankings that had England up to 4th (?) only a year or so ago... Are you really that shocked that there is a shock team in there?

Didn't the Swiss have the youngest average age at a WC not so long ago and didn't concede a goal from open play in the whole tounament?

 

[Theatre of Trees]

The Swiss were a bit presumptuous to be putting corkscrews on their Army knives, weren't they? And have you seen the Swiss Guard that protect the Pope? They wouldn't look out of place in the Wild Fruit tent at Pride. Something not right there. I'm with the OP

You've forgotten all that cheese with holes in.

 

[ali jenkins]

Age of players and how goals are scored are not relevant to rankings though. Results are. And in the last World Cup, Switzerland went out in the group stage. Since then, they haven't even qualified for Euro 2012. In the same time, Holland have won 18 of their 20 qualifying matches and reached a World Cup final. The result, in FIFA's eyes, is Switzerland 7th and Holland 9th.

Quite a long way of working it out but it's all explained here... http://www.fifa.com/worldranking/procedureandschedule/menprocedure/index.html

Incidently, Switzerland are only 2 points above Holland and Italy in the World Rankings.

 

[ElectricNaz]

look at Colombia's squad now:

Falcao
Jackson Martinez
Guarin

They have a tasty squad

Are we only allowed a three man squad for the World Cup now

 

[ali jenkins]

It's only done over the last 12 months as well so previous WC and Euros dont really mean anything.

Incidently, England are ranked one place above Brazil in the latest lot. Then again, apart from the Con Fed cup Brazil haven't played any competitive games in the last 2 years.