After months of minor changes during which order was largely maintained in the top 10, the latest world football rankings saw some veritably seismic shifts, with a couple of key factors forcing the movement. The first of these was the most significant change in the ranking's calculation in its 13-year history. A new system came into operation this month and, instead of taking into account the past eight years' results, only the last four now have a bearing on teams' positions within the ranking table. As for the other means by which the ranking was traditionally decided (result, importance of match, strength of opponents, regional strength, number of matches considered), these have been tested, re- analysed and, in some cases, completely revised. Indeed, two of the factors previously used -- goals scored and home advantage -- have been removed from the reckoning process altogether. By anyone's standards, this represents a major overhaul of the entire system, and it is one that is also geared towards making the process of assessing fully 207 member associations a little easier to understand. "We are aware that it is difficult to meet everybody's expectations," acknowledged FIFA President Joseph Blatter, "but we are confident that the new system will provide an accurate measure of the strength of each of our member associations." No prizes for guessing the second main dynamic behind the principal movers and shakers in this month's ranking. That small, little-known tournament known as the World Cup certainly had a telling and, in some cases, spectacular impact, and all the more so because of this new rule dictating that only the past four years' results are taken into account. This was evident from the top five downwards, where Brazil just hung on to top spot from Italy, who jumped 11 places after succeeding the Seleç�o as world champions. The final itself might have been marred by Zinedine Zidane's dismissal and decided in the least desirable fashion, but over the course of the tournament, their solidity and solidarity had set them apart from many a more-fancied rival. "Maybe it wasn't pretty, but we were hard to beat," said their tigerish midfield scrapper Gennaro Gattuso after the penalty shoot-out win over France, acknowledging the colossal roles played by Fabio Cannavaro, Italy's decisive, dynamic captain, and the agile, often unbeatable Gianluigi Buffon. Coach Marcello Lippi, meanwhile, praised his players for the "unlimited heart, character and personality," that had seen them brush aside Ghana, the Czech Republic, Australia, Ukraine and Germany en route to their crowning moment in Berlin's Olympiastadion. The only disappointment for the Azzurri as they look ahead to EURO 2008 -- and, perhaps, to snatching top spot from the Brazilians -- is that they will do so without Lippi himself, who resigned in the wake of the final, claiming, "I have achieved what I set out to achieve." Beaten finalists France (fourth, up four) also burst into the top five along with the impressive, but ultimately unsuccessful Argentina (third, up six) and another team whose dreams of glory ended in the quarter-finals, England (fifth, up five). Germany, meanwhile, were rewarded for their inspiring march to the semis with a return to the top 10, where they assumed ninth position with a climb of 10 places. This, however, was nothing compared to the dramatic ascent of Oleg Blokhin's Ukraine, who leaped no fewer than 30 spots on the ranking to land in 15th, while the team they eliminated on penalties, Switzerland, recorded a similarly significant 22-place rise to 13th. Paraguay, which jumped 14 places to 19th in the ranking, also benefited from their World Cup involvement, as did two of the tournament's African newcomers, Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire. Both have now established themselves in world football's top 25 for the first time, with their dynamic, attacking contributions to Germany 2006 finding reward in the shape of a 23-place rise from 48 to 25 for the former, and a jump of 12 spots -- from 32 to 20 -- for the latter. Not all of the World Cup participants fared so well, however, and for every rapid rise, there was a drop every bit as dramatic. Saudi Arabia, for example, plummeted fully 47 places to rest in 81st position in the wake of a disappointing campaign, and their Asian rivals had similarly sad tales to recount. Take Japan, who began the tournament in 18th position and now languish in 49th, or Iran -- down 24 to 47th -- or even 2002 semi-finalists South Korea, who dropped out of the top 50 altogether after slumping 27 places to 56th. Finally, and while the World Cup might understandably have dominated our attention, we should also recognise the remarkable progress registered by a few non-participants, most notably Equatorial Guinea, which climbed 59 places into 95th position, Canada, which moved to within four places of the top 50 with a 29-place jump, and Guinea, who are now one spot ahead of Ghana, having leaped from 51st to 24th position in this much-changed ranking table.
